Snow in the Field of Spring
by Moon Witch '96
Summary: SI. Alice dies. She didn't expect to be reborn. She didn't expect to remember herself and she sure as hell did not expect to be reborn in a world she had read about in her first. She just wanted to live, a be a hero in her short life. She didn't really understand what that was. But she's learning, and she will be a Hero. Won't she? Please R&R.
1. Prologue: What You Wish For

_She wasn't important. She was just a girl that died too young. She resented it on some level because sixteen was a terrible age to die. It was just at that age before she could do anything, just at the age where she could start to think about the rest of her life. If she hadn't been sick since the age of six, Alice maybe would have made something of herself in her first life. She hadn't even finished high school, she had only ever kissed one boy and had never had sex, never really been in love, just in those early confusing stages of it maybe happening. She didn't have many hopes and dreams, she was too accepting of the fact that her body was decaying. But she had at least wanted to do **something** , leave the world with a lasting impression of her. She wanted to be a hero in her own short little story, save a world like characters did in the manga or in books. _

_She did not want to be 'the poor Tyler girl who died of Leukemia'._

 _But that was all she had been in the end._

 _A dead girl in a box, six feet under, with sobbing parents and grandfather to show for her short life._

 _But somehow, maybe, somewhere, someone or something listened. Listened to the dying girl's wish to be a hero. To be strong, to be able to run around and do impossible things. To live, truly **live** , and make the world turn on its head and look at her._

 _Sometimes she wondered if that was a good thing._


	2. Growing Pains Arc:I Do Not Sleep

**Growing Pains Arc:**

 **I Do Not Sleep**

 _"Do not stand at my grave and weep_ _I am not there; I do not sleep._ _I am a thousand winds that blow,_ _I am the diamond glints on snow,_ _I am the sun on ripened grain,_ _I am the gentle autumn rain._ _When you awaken in the morning's hush I_ _am the swift uplifting rush, o_ _f quiet birds in circled flight._ _I am the soft stars that shine at night._ _Do not stand at my grave and cry,_ _I am not there; I did not die," Do Not Stand By My Grave, Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1932._

When Alice Day-Tyler died, it wasn't exactly a grandiose thing. In fact, at sixteen, it was remarkably predictable, mercifully soft and sudden. It was expected, sad really, a story you would hear about from a friend of a friend, something you would be compelled to say 'that poor family' and dismiss soon enough. It was that story you heard about a child dead before their time, someone who had had so much potential but had never been able to fulfill it. But it was just that to most people- a story that you felt bad about and then removed from your mind quickly because it wasn't a happy one. No one other than the ones that loved her really cared about her death, simply because Alice hadn't really known a lot of people, an odd friend or two, her small family and a boy that could have meant something.

She had gone exactly how she had wanted to die, in fact, the way most people wanted to die: Surrounded by the people that had loved her like nothing else and in her sleep, without really any pain or big death scene. She died, she thinks because her disease got the better of her. She had been in remission but she figures the Doctors had missed something or her body had just had enough after ten years of struggling against itself. She knows she died in her sleep at least, with her parents and grandfather, even her cat, with her. She doesn't remember it, not the dying part, but the day she died, even all the years later when she was in a place were even a name like 'Alice Day-Tyler' would have made no sense, she remembered.

It was a snowy day, cold in a way that snuck up on you, settled deep into your bones. Her father had cheerfully claimed that it was going to be a white Christmas. For the first time in nearly months, she was home. She had been curled up in her favorite chair by the fire, reading a book ( _Alice in Wonderland_ , a childhood favorite for obvious reasons), her cat Maid of Orleans(or Maid-Leans for short), had been curled around her blanket covered feet, her Dad, Peter(he was the keeper of the house and OCD to boot), was humming as he tidied up, her grandfather(Jim, an old war veteran with a mean streak a mile long and a soft spot for her) was listening to the radio, a soft jazz station, and her mum, Amelia had been writing out her latest book of some analysis of some book or another(it was due soon and her publisher and the University had been placing a lot of pressure on her). It was... Nice. And warm, to be home. With her parents and grandfather, away from the sterile smells of metal and antiseptic and the sympathetic glances of nurses and the unrelating stare of kids in the pediatrics area of the hospital, of how they looked at her shaved head in that knowing, horrifyingly curious way.

Ever other minute or so, her parents and grandfather would stop what they were doing, hesitate slightly, before coming over to touch her. Usually, it was a pat on her red scarf covered head, or to squeeze her frail shoulder softly. She would smile each time, laugh slightly as she turned a page in her book. Most would have found it stiffingly, the constant touching, but Alice had always been very tactile and was pleased, to each little sign of love. If she had known she was dying right there, on that sofa, she would have clung to them instead of patting them back. She would have kissed them on the cheek or foreheads and told them how much she loved them, how much they meant to her. How much she was proud to have fought with them. She would have cried and raved, gone into death cursing and fighting against it. Because she never wanted to _leave._ But that was the thing about death. It always came when you didn't want it when you wished you had known to have one more minute with the people that you loved.

She didn't realize she had fallen asleep, or by the time she did it was long past the time she had passed away.

Alice had been waiting for this for a long time a sort of certainty in the back of her mind that most didn't have, simply because she had been fighting since the age of six against a rather advance stage of Leukemia. She, according to the doctors, was incredibly brave and such a little trooper, and so many things that matched that line of thought that it grew tired after the first hundred times. Alice could understand that, appreciate their sentiment, but mostly all she could understand was that she was in pain most of the time, and her own body seemed intent on killing itself with her faulty bone marrow. Of watching her father suffer along with her, as he was her main donor, bone graphs and blood transfusions without hesitation. Ten miraculous years had done nothing to really ease the fact that she was going to die and her parents had to watch their only daughter wither away bit by bit as they tried desperately to save her. She hadn't wanted it of course, but that didn't change the fact that it was very expected.

When she died, or at least, when she became aware that she died, all she could think was how this was going to fuck up her determined parents who had helped her fight for ten years and maybe even give her Grandfather that final heart-attack to send him after her. She could see the old curmudgeon as well, shaking his fists and diving headfirst into death screaming after her; 'Save me a seat, Ace!'.

She wasn't for fire or brimstone, simply because she had never done much in her short life to cause it and the whole pearly gates didn't seem like her either. Alice had never been particularly religious, raised by to eccentrics, a Professor/Writer, and an inventor, both who found merit in anything spiritual from Buddhism to Islam. They saw themselves as agnostic and not against or for anything in particular. That had been passed onto her. If anything, she had a faint hope of an after-life where she could have some sort of existence beyond the corporal, beyond her weak body. She expected maybe to see her grandmother Elanor, or her paternal grandparents that she had never met. Or maybe even her old pug, Napoleon, waiting for her with his black tag wagging and barking up a storm until she picked him up.

She did not expect a dark, tight space, as if she was suspended, floating in a fluid, or the muffled, comprehensive sounds that made her rock back and forth to its strange rhythm. Odd noises would break the rhythm, and he made her focus on the noise with fascination. It was the only entertainment in the dark, that noise, sometimes startling and wonderful and other times harsh and grating. At first, she had thought she had simply fallen asleep and was having a weird, confining dream. She had felt that on some level, the tired, heavy eyes as she read along with her namesake's tumble down a rabbit hole, leaning her head back and trying to huddle away from the strange sensation of cold that had settled her. The settling into a comforting position and feeling the steady warmth of the fire fighting against that biting cold that would _not_ let her go.

It wasn't until the space around her started to tighten, started to get smaller that she registered that she wasn't quite alive because, despite the lack of sensory perception, she was quite sure that too much time had passed without her eating or drinking to mean she was alive.

So here she was, dead, in a tight, dark space(getting smaller) with nothing but her circling thoughts on her parents, her granddad, and even her cat, and her wasted life, those swift sixteen years that should have meant something. Somehow, the things that made her 'Alice' that should have been chucked away and left behind in her old shell had stayed, lingered, there, in that dark. Intertwining into her new shell, clamping on. She pushed and tested the dark, its strange springiness and it overall feeling of comfort and warmth despite the dullness.

Then, that warm dark was taken away from her, cruel in a crushing, crushing rush. For one thing, the darkness that had before birth had been... Well, boring, nothing really happening, nothing but garbled sounds and the space around her getting smaller and smaller. Boring, mildly claustrophobic, and frankly it was lucky that she wasn't driven crazy by the lack of stimulation.

Years later, she would still wondered if she had gone crazy.

All she knew for sure then that it _hurt_ (she was used to pain, chemo was no walk in the park, but after so much time spent in dark and lack of sensory stimulation it was so surprising and it was so much more _painful_ because of it), whatever she was happening and that she couldn't even scream at all. She had never been afraid or ashamed of crying or screaming when she had been in pain, it was normal and her parents had always told her never to be ashamed of what her body was telling you to feel. When she could scream, it was because it was so goddamn cold and _bright_. She wailed, flailing at the large things that had her secured firmly, and gentle grip. She couldn't see, everything was too bright and a series of blurry large shapes that positively loomed over her. Worse of all, the worst thing was that she felt something in the air, all around her, something that would press against her, almost as if she was constantly under water if the water was just slightly denser than air. It was suffocating, in the air, in everything, even in the huge creatures that passed her around,(gently, but somehow that made it more terrifying) a deep pool that was horrifying and grating against her.

She had it too, a burning, itching thing that swirled around inside her and _she felt it._ For the first few weeks of her new life, Alice screamed and cried, blind, confused and gave her second set of parents a lot of restless nights. She was moved about by giant, formless things, rocked and fed, she could hardly sleep herself without the burning thing inside her startling her a few hours in, and she was so tired that she would fall asleep in her crappy afterlife often.

She didn't understand, she didn't quite realize what it all meant.

It wasn't until she was a month in, where she was starting to see more than shapes and light, that she saw her second mother's face for the first time. It was slightly blurry, and it was only because she was bothering to actually open her eyes to try to get past the enormous light sensitivity that she had at the time that she could focus enough to _see_ : She was a pretty woman, with sharp titled eyes. She was odd, with the features of someone of Asian descent, fair skin, almond eyes and thin hair, but her coloring was quite different. She had bright green eyes and golden blond hair that contrasted nicely. She looked tired, exhausted really, and suddenly, Alice understood that it was her fault.

Alice stopped screaming, small sniffles escaping her, because she was still in pain from the little burning inside her, and because she couldn't quite understand why this woman's face was so enormous. She was so startled by it, that she could ignore the pain.

The young woman beamed at her, bouncing her playfully, getting a startled hiccup out of her.

" _Yuki, oh, you've stopped crying. Sakura, look, your younger sister has finally stopped crying*,"_ she said in a soft, slightly hoarse voice from the lack of sleep. Alice did not understand what she was saying-she didn't know whether that was due to her not know the language she was speaking in(it sounded Japanese), or because Alice suddenly understood that she was a baby.

Babies weren't meant to understand much, she supposed. A small hand, much much smaller than the two large ones that Alice suddenly realized was holding her up, reached out and latched onto her foot, which made Alice jerked in surprise. The small hand squeezed, much too tightly, and it _hurt_.

" ' _MOTO*_!" screeched a voice, and Alice was presented with the face of a young baby, probably only a year old.

She was an adorable little thing, with great big cheeks, large forehead, and wide green eyes, slanted. She too looked Asian and had a great tuff of vivid _pink_ hair. She was drooling and squealing at the sight of Alice, and from what little Japanese she had learned in her long, and frequent bouts of anime, Alice realized with a start that 'Moto' was the little girl's butchering of the word 'imoto' which was... It meant sister. Specifically little sister. Alice had never been a sister, an only child and the sudden shift made her tense, because if what this girl was saying- if she was really a baby-

" _Moto, moto moto_!" giggled the little girl, squeezing Alice's foot a little too hard in her delight once again.

Alice squirmed, feeling tears come to her eyes because she couldn't quite form words of her displeasure, only a gurgled shriek that made the young woman coo right at her.

" _Sakura, don't hurt your little sister,_ " said the young woman sternly, tugging her gently away from her the pink haired baby.

" _Mama,_ " whined the child, crowding and reaching for Alice.

Alice understood that too- that meant mother, said the informal way, she believed.

" _No, Sakura,_ " said the woman, more sharply this time, " _You have to be gentle, your sister is very small and very delicate._ "

" _Yes, Mama._ "

So the little girl was named... Sakura(the young woman kept saying it to the little girl)? And she had just said yes to her mother. Suddenly Alice wished she had learned Japanese more properly instead of the smattering of words she had picked up from Anime and manga. She knew a little French and bits and pieces of Spanish, but Japanese had been on her list after Spanish. It was one of the things that passed the time to when she was in the hospital.

" _Moto-chan,_ " said Sakura, addressing her again in a sing-song voice, cheerful and lilting.

Once again, the young mother carefully lowered Alice away from her chest and towards the eager, waiting hands of the young toddler. Alice squirmed, ready to let out a wail if the little girl latched onto her too tightly, and because she missed the warmth provided by the young woman instantly. Sakura scooted forward on her rump, her little legs probably too weak to carry her fully yet, and reached out to touch Alice's face. Her hands were warm and felt so big even though Alice knew that Sakura was so small and that she was giggling with delight.

" _Mama, Yuki is so pretty._ "

The young woman, laughing, scooped up Alice again and pressed her carefully across her chest.

" _Yes, she is Sakura, just like you!_ " she picked up the other little girl with surprising ease, bringing her close to her side. She was a decent sized little one or two years old, and if she was well fed, then so should Alice be, the fact that the young woman could lug them both with ease startled her. She had such delicate features, as well as thin, long limbs.

The little girl squealed, and Alice felt her heart beat thunder in her ears. Was that bad for a baby she wondered, watching as her as the young woman paused to look down at her, frowning.

" _Yuki?_ " whispered the young woman, gently putting down little Sakura despite her wail of protest, and it startled Alice to realize that she was being addressed.

Not directly, of course, she was a baby, but the young woman was speaking about her, pressing her ear against her chest with a worried expression. Her heart beat harder, and Alice couldn't help but start to cry.

She died.

 _She had died._

Her parents.

Her granddad.

Her cat for Pete's Sake.

She was someone else. She was now 'Yuki'. Snow in English, if her limited Japanese was anything to go by. She was a god-damn baby, and the woman who gave birth to her must think there was something seriously wrong with her. She couldn't help but cry and wail, pushing against the young woman's face. She flailed, kicked and punched with useless _baby_ limbs. She didn't want this woman, she wanted her mother, she hadn't wanted to die at sixteen, she had had so much to do, so much to reach for. She had survived ten long years-

" _Shhh, Yuki,_ " she started to bounce her, softly, and she began to sing a soft song that she didn't understand.

" _Standing in the field of flowers, deeply in the Spring,_ _the Winter still holds on the edges of this field_ _.._."

Why did she have to die so soon?

" _You rise with the power of your limbs, you stand with Fire in your heart..._ "

She didn't want this, she started to kick and push against the woman's face harder, blaming the poor woman.

" _You fight against the lingering Winter, gathering the Snow..._ "

She wasn't her child-

" _Hold it to your burning heart in that field of flowers, deeply in the Spring._ "

Why? Was this some sort of cosmic joke, her being Alice and suddenly being Yuki? She had heard of cases like this, of reincarnation, but it was supposed to be hoaxes or some weird quirk of life that you didn't pay attention to.

" _Melt it all away to feed your flowers, banish the Winter into the Spring_."

It wasn't actually supposed to _happen_.

The woman cooed so gently and earnestly that Alice felt her energy come out of her, watching her patiently and earnestly, the softest and most concerned looking face. Alice faltered in her anger, knowing that despite everything it wasn't this woman's fault. She couldn't blame her, it wasn't as if she had knowingly gotten a baby with a little more memory than normal. She stared into her lovely green eyes, pale like new leaves in Spring, and took a deliberate, shaky breath. She placed a hand on each side of the face and started, deep, deeply. She stared at the eyes of her- well- Her new _mother._

The woman looked back at her with nothing but love and patience, the bags under her eyes highlighted by her pale face.

Alice reached out, her fingertips startling her for a second, too small, too chubby to belong to her, but she ignored it and reached to touch the bags. She had caused that, she mused, feeling a little guilty. Her parents, Amelia, and Peter had taught her better than that.

" _Fight, rise with the Heart of Fire, deeply in this field of flowers._ "

She stopped crying, slowly, little sniffles escaping her and the young woman beamed so brightly, so relieved that Alice didn't have the heart to cry again, and simply fell limp in her strong arms, against the warmth of the young mother. She stared and realized she didn't have the strength in her anymore, not to cry or to feel anything.

For the next few months, Alice mourned.

Herself.

Her parents.

Her grandfather.

Her cat.

The boy that could have meant something.

She did not cry, she did not fuss. She barely ate, she slept so much that it worried her new... Family. Later, both of her parents in this life would mention that they had been so scared at this point, taken her to the Hospital to see if there could be anything done for their worriedly apathetic child. The Medics, Nurses, and Doctors would be as thunderstruck as the parents of two children until one Medic tested her chakra sensitivity.

According to her Parents, the way she cried that day was the hardest she had ever cried and would haunt them for the rest of her lives. Because the sound that she, as a few months old had been so loud, so _painful_ , that it would never fade from their ears.

She herself, didn't remember much of this time. She had settled on this feeling of genuine numbness that nothing could touch her in her inner depression. Because she had to grieve- She had lost her parents, her life, _herself_. And it was beyond anything she had ever suffered as Alice, losing herself, her name, her body... She was a new being, a new creature with a different heart, a different set of eyes and new lungs that weren't her originals ones. She was someone else- and that was hard to understand and to swallow. It wasn't until the day of her sensitivity test that she had felt anything beyond sorrow and numbness in months- The test was invasive and she felt that burning thing around her actually _enter_ her. It was a foreign thing, and it burned unlike anything Alice had ever experienced, worse than the trauma of birth. And she had screamed to high heaven because she had been trying to force that damn burning _out_ and in her rage and pain she had reacted physically until she had succeeded. The Medic had fallen backward in surprise, at both her reaction and being pushed out no doubt. But she hadn't cared, she had only focused on getting the lingering amounts of the woman _out_ of her as she failed around.

Her sensitivity was off the charts and at a young age, at the time living in central of Konoha was a bad idea for her, and was what left her in such a sluggish state and could damage her delicate network if they stayed. Or at least it would have to any infant, as their mental capacity would never be able to handle the strain. And while yes, she was a baby physically, her own mental power was supplied beyond that, her old self as Alice adding to it and protecting her from the effects it should have given her. Pain overload, sensory overload, all which she had dealt with as Alice and pushed aside for the pain of the fact that she had died. Her parents moved easily abandoning temporarily the Hanuro ancestral home, quickly so to save their daughter, towards the outskirts of the village, settled and away from any major chakra activity. It put them in a somewhat border of the civilian section and the Shinobi, close to a blond boy, with a certain lack of friends and starvation for attention.

However, Alice, or Yuki as she was now, didn't know this.

She didn't even know where she was.

She didn't know what the burning was, she didn't know why it hurt, and she didn't care because the move had come when she was slowly moving away from her mourning, from losing her family, losing herself. After that day of enormous pain, she had started to realize that yes, she had died- but how many people could claim they remembered their past lives? She was _alive._ When she was old enough, she would find her first set of parents. It was a burning hope and secret joy to think of how they would react, she was in a different body, a different shell but part of her saw the fact that despite that she was still their daughter.

It wasn't until one day, when her father held her, did a glint of metal catch her eye, that this hope die and she felt a different sort of impossibility. Beyond being born again and remembering her past life. She lifted the thing she saw from afar and never quite from close, simply because he had a habit of taking off at home because while he loved his Village, and believed in serving it, it was his belief that his daughters would have a choice to what they would do. Today had been a dangerous and tiring mission, long and all he wanted to do was hold his youngest because it his eldest was asleep, along with his wife, and he was so damn _tired_ and he needed to hold something innocent and beautiful.

Curiosity, a trait she had shared with her literally counterpart, had always been a trait she had never denied in herself. Even in her new life, she didn't do so.

She lifted the glinting metal, in her tiny little hands. The insignia engraved in the metal made something in her heart pound.

At first, she had dismissed it. After all, she was in Japan and Naruto the manga had been very popular both here and in the states, with all ages, Alice had been guilty of loving the series herself. She had been in her early teen years when it had started to end, and she had eaten it up like no tomorrow. She had been somewhat disappointed at its lackluster ending but had quickly moved on to a new series once it was over. The fact that her new biological parent was a dork that wore the headband made her want to laugh, or at least it would have if a lingering sensation of unease of seeing the headband would have gone away.

It took until she was two years old, with mounting evidence over that period for her finally to see the truth: her mother reacting a little too quickly as she knocked over her bottle, the lack of technology, the increasing burning and growing of the energy inside her, the exercises of stretching and endurance that both she and her older sister had started- Sakura had been more advance, but she tended to hate physical exercise as she had a somewhat book inclined. She herself, having been bed bound most of her last life, and been limited in her movements as a baby had jumped at the chance at being able to move around and striven towards it, pushed past her own limitations because she wanted to be able to move dammit.

It wasn't long before she caught up to her elder sister, whose own competitive response had been to make sure her imoto-chan was always a step behind her. She succeeded only sometimes, and this made something burn in her older sister, made her try harder and harder. This had set up something she had never expected in her once apathetic, and nice sister(especially when it came down to what she remembered), a burning edge to never give up, and had given her an ego boost and a good dose of humility that would change many things down the line.

At two, when she had a firm grasp of the language at least verbally, and she used it in a specific way, (and had finally mastered potty training, a huge boost to her ego and pride) that she understood that no, her father wasn't an otaku.

She had been sitting on the porch of her house and had been practicing her kanji, with clumsy two-year-old hands. They were covered in ink, as was her face and clothes, but she was trying to get dexterity in her hands while improving her reading skills. Writing with a brush was hard, but it allowed her to multitask. Yuki, as she now acknowledged she was called, had been bored- her mother had gone off with her sister to the market, as Sakura-nee had begged to be taken. Her mother had long realized that she was capable of one, not hurting herself, and two taking care of herself for more than an hour or two. Her parents made no mention of her intelligence or self-awareness, other than the odd look of pride that would cross their faces when she made a particularly intelligent thing.

They were keen on hiding her once company came over, and it wasn't until she heard a rustle in the berry bushes that grew on the rim of her house's property, that she understood why.

She looked up, surprised, and watched with curiosity as a little blond tuff of hair popped out, it wiggled for a bit, before a little boy, maybe her sister's age fell through. His chest was heaving, and he was scrambling forward as if he was running from someone. Yuki dropped her writing brush, blinking as the boy froze and locked eyes with her. His dark blue eyes were very pretty, even if they were red and full of tears, and his dirt covered face looked wild and scared. He was covered in lumps scrapes and bruises.

A rustle behind him made him start, before he started running, scrambling really, away. He made about half way towards her before he fell as he tripped over her sister's jump rope, which she had a habit of leaving laying around. He sat up and clutched at his badly scraped knee, his tears increasing. Yuki, hearing the slurred voices and curses coming from the bushes, felt fear for the first time in her second life. She got up, ran across the sizable backyard and grabbed the boy's tan hand.

He was so startled, that he stopped crying, so startled that he actually flinched away from her. As if she was going to hit him.

Yuki was two years old. But part of her, part of her was Alice, and she was sixteen. The sight of any child flinching away from someone smaller than them was wrong, as was a child being chased by the mob of drunk men and woman that crashed through her mother's precious bushes made something inside her burn and scream. She gripped his hand tighter and heaved him up, and dragged him towards her house, away from the stumbling drunks. They slurred as they screamed at her:

"Get away from the demon, child!"

"You let that girl go, monster!"

She ignored them, jumped onto her porch, dragging the boy with her, smashing both her inks and paper in her haste, and ran into the house before they could make it half way across the yard. She slammed her screen door shut more out of habit than anything and kept dragging the silent boy until she reached the bedroom she shared with her sister, at the heart of her house. The words of her parents echoed in her head of their room being the safest in the house, and she rushed the boy into a little secret room in the wall her parents had shown both she and Sakura-nee 'just in case'. She followed and shut the door behind her, the sounds of the drunks echoing in her home as they entered it and their shouts as they started to go through her house.

Her heart was racing and it wasn't until the little boy squeezed her hand did she notice that he was there. She turned, eyes wide as she took in his shabby appearance. His too large shirt, his face swollen face and he looked so scared. He looked as scared as she felt, and she tried to reassure him:

"Mama will be home soon," she soothed and while she feared for her mother and older sister, part of Yuki, the most dominant part of her, thought as all children did and thought her parents invisible. After all the men and woman were drunk and her mother was a trained martial artist.

The boy sniffed, and nodded, squeezing her hand again. She squeezed back and afraid of his reaction, but unafraid at the same time, pressed herself into his side, trying to calm herself down. As Alice and as Yuki, she had never been subjected to a home invasion, and the degree of violence startled her. She had never seen her parents so much as tipsy, and the crashes and enraged yells echoing in the house made something in her heart seize and never more aware of the fact that she was two years old, and all she could do was hide.

At least sixteen was older, a better time to die than two years old.

He was stiff at her intrusion of his personal space, but bared with it and soon was wrapping his arm around her and pushing his face into her hair. Her hands looped around his waist and as he pressed her against his chest all she could hear was the rapid pitter patter of his heart, and she knew the boy needed to hold her as much as she did.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?!" came a bellowed scream of rage, and she felt herself beaming at the sound of mother's voice, "Sakura stay behind me!"

She gripped tighter at his waist and prayed underneath her breathe until the screams and yells tapered off. She didn't move, and neither did the boy until the door of the small room started to be move aside. The boy yelped, but still pushed her behind him. Her sister's unhappy, anxious face met his, but he didn't move aside, even as Yuki's mother's face joined her sister.

"What happened?" demanded her mother's voice and the boy visibly shrunk at the stern tone. Yuki wiggled around the boy and sagged in relief at her mother's rumpled, but otherwise unmarred appearance.

"They were chasing 'im," she said, her Japanese slightly off. Yuki's tongue and vocal cords weren't quite as developed as she would like and sometimes that would show in her pronunciation of words.

Her mother's fine brows scrunched together and she looked towards the boy with softer eyes, and a softer tone:

"Are any of you hurt?"

She shook her head, but pushed the boy forward. He looked at her as if she had betrayed him, but she was beaming at her family as she move out into her room. Her mother's eyes softened even further and she gently reached her hands out to the boy, as if to pick him up. She did not miss his flinch or the way he moved back as if to move Yuki out of the way in case of any blows. Her mother frowned, but reached forward to pluck him, and Yuki up, one child in each arm. Sakura-nee clambered onto her back with ease and her mother brought them towards the kitchen, not at all burdened by the weight of three children that weighed about thirty pounds a piece. The mob were all hogged tied in their living room, all quite knocked out. Her mother ignored them even as Yuki gaped at the sight of a dozen or so adults taken down by her petite mother.

"Stay there, I'm going to clean you up," she said, in a no nonsense tone. Sakura clung to her back still as she placed both Yuki and the boy down.

She took out their first aid kit, and started on the boy.

"What's your name, kid?" she said it gently, but Yuki wondered at the tone that seemed as if she already knew the answer.

The boy looked at his sandaled feet. Her mother tsked.

"My name is Haruno Mebuki, these are my two daughters, Sakura and Yuki, "she said promptly.

Yuki blinked, having never heard her last name until this point. She wondered why that last name seemed so familiar.

"...zamki…ruto..." said the boy, quietly and mumbling.

Her mother hummed, grabbing a wet cloth to clean his dirt caked face.

"Say you're name with pride, louder," she said plainly, eyes narrowed.

The boy's eyes squinted and he said, bellowing loudly:

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, datteboyo! I'm going to be Hokage!"

Yuki thought her heart would freeze. She could have dismissed it as his parents being fans of the show, and having that last name… But as her mother whipped away the last of the dirt on his face, six scars, three on each cheek made themselves know. No amount of fanaticism could explain that.

" _Holy fuck**_!" she hissed, blinking, her mother turned to her, eyes squinting.

"Mama, tell Yuki to stop speaking in her code language," said Sakura, whining.

"Yuki, you know what me and your father have said about using that in public," she said, and her worried eyes flickered to Naruto.

To Naruto.

Naruto freakin' Uzumaki.

Yuki wanted to faint.

"What'd she say?" he asked, blinking at her.

"I have no idea Naruto-kun, neither me nor my husband have been able to crack her language, though it is a language too much patterns to be simple gibberish," said her mother, Mebuki, tending to his wounds, cleaning up his scraps and handing him ice packs for his lumps.

Yuki blinked and looked at her older sister. Sakura Haruno. And then back to the main protagonist in the manga she had read as a preteen. Suddenly, she felt a certainty. Just as she had felt when she discovered she was a baby.

Yuki was in the world of Naurto.

Well.

" _Fuck. Merde._ _Chin_ _g_ _a_ _d_ _o. This is not happening!_ " she whispered in rapid succession.

"Mama, she's doing it again."

"Yuki..."

Yuki blinked again, and felt her heart start to race. The burning thing that she had no name suddenly did have a name, it was freakin' chakra. Looking at the wide eyed, confused looking Naruto Uzumaki, Yuki wondered what the hell she was in store for in this life. She felt her chest heaving, looking at the boy intensely. In the two years that she had lived as Yuki, she had learned to more else be able to ignore the burning energy in everything around her, as long as she made a conscious effort. Now, she let her sixth annoying sense expand and she felt all the chakra around her. In the house, in the floors, in a gentle waves in her mother and sister. And in Naruto. There was no way to deny it as she felt his two chakra stores, separate, swirling, intermixing, one vivid and so hot and potent it made her honestly sick to her stomach and then there was a second, smaller but still sizable amount of sunny like chakra.

Yuki breathed deeply though her nose.

She wasn't important. She was just a girl that died too young. She resented it on some level because sixteen was a terrible age to die. It was just at that age before she could do anything, just at the age where she could start to think about the rest of her life. If she hadn't been sick since the age of six, Alice maybe would have made something of herself in her first life. She hadn't even finished high school, she had only ever kissed one boy and had never had sex, never really been in love, just in those early confusing stages of it maybe happening. She didn't have many hopes and dreams, she was too accepting of the fact that her body was decaying. But she had at least wanted to do something, leave the world with a lasting impression of her. She wanted to be a hero in her own short little story, save a world like characters did in the manga or in books.

She did not want to be 'the poor Tyler girl who died of Leukemia'.

But that was all she had been in the end.

A dead girl in a box, six feet under, with sobbing parents and grandfather to show for her short life.

But somehow, maybe, somewhere, someone or something listened. Listened to the dying girl's wish to be a hero. To be strong, to be able to run around and do impossible things. To live, truly live, and make the world turn on its head and look at her.

Sometimes she wondered if that was a good thing.

The fact that she could never see her first set of parents sunk in.

And of course she started to cry in shock and genuine grief, because it was almost as if she had lost her family all over again and Naruto squeaked in surprise as Sakura-nee started hitting him for making her cry, and Yuki wondered, she wondered and she was terrified of what her role would be in the world she had once read about.

* * *

 **AN: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its mangakai, publishing and broadcasting company.**

 **This is me having fun in its sandbox.**

 **Edit: 7 June 2017**

 **I am not Alice, when I made this story a self-insert, I was referring to someone born to our world and reborn in an another world. I only put self-insert because OC felt like to broad of a distinction. Maybe OC-insert?**

 ***Japanese in italics for when Alice/Yuki didn't understand it.**

 **** For English, French and Spanish because the other characters don't understand Western languages in the Naruto world.**


	3. Growing Pains Arc: All the Repercussions

**Growing Pains Arc:**

 **All the Repercussions of Being Reborn in a Deadly, Deadly World**

 _"When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud, an_ _d goes down burning into the gulf below, n_ _o voice in nature is heard to cry aloud a_ _t what has happened._ Birds, _at least must know i_ _t is the change to darkness in the sky._ _Murmuring something quiet in her breast, o_ _ne bird begins to close a faded eye;_ _Or overtaken too far from his nest,_ _Hurrying low above the grove, some waif s_ _woops just in time to his remembered tree._ _At most he thinks or twitters softly, 'Safe!_ _Now let the night be dark for all of me._ _Let the night bee too dark for me to see_ _into the future. Let what will be, be." Acceptance, Robert Frost, 1928._

Yuki felt her mother's chakra ease off into the gentle rhythms of sleep in the next room over. It was warm, easy thing, sort of the sensation one had from receiving a particularly lovely hug from someone you really cared about, her father was slightly different, warm, but more energetic, sometimes flickering in his energy, like an agitated pond- circling and forever spreading outwards and by the far the strongest energy she had ever felt. Sakura-nee was like a ray of sunshine in the early morning hours, warm and gentle. As she got older, she had found that her sense of the burning energy inside everything around her had settled at a range of a twenty or so feet, if she bothered to pay attention to it. Most of the time, she let the strange sensation settle to the back of her mind, simply because it if she paid too much attention to it she would blank out any other sensation and focus on the strange ebb and flow of each energy. She would lose focus of conversations or stare into space as she tried to make sense of it. Because it was just _so much, so strange_ and she could spend hours sorting through each of the unique energies that lingered in everything- anything that was alive, be it plant or animal and even the very air she breathed had the energy. It was complex and just _fascinating_.

Considering everything in this world had the ability to absorb chakra(now she had a name for it) to even a small degree, it was very easy to get lost in it. It was like constantly standing in the wind, pushing and pulling from different directions in different intensities- it was something she couldn't see, put she certainly felt. Always grabbing her attention and distracting her to the point that Sakura-nee often had to guide her without touching her skin to somewhere where either she was away from whatever she had been distracted by or so she wouldn't be hurt. Yuki could feel everything in the world through its energy, when she focused and when things entered her limited range. Sometimes she played a game by closing her eyes and trying to navigate the world like that just by the feel of the energy around her- her parents encouraged this game, trying to trip her up in some shape or form by throwing something at her, using Sakura-nee as a additional person to navigate or providing a blindfold.

She wondered now if it was an effect of living in a world that didn't have it, even in a different body, or if her body would have always been this conscious of it regardless. She figured it was the former, as far as she knew Sakura had never had a sister in the manga and chakra sensitivity had not been touched upon as far as she remembered. Sometimes, it would startle her in the air, causing her to cough violently as she felt it slither down her throat- The energy in the air wasn't burning or hurting her, not the stuff in the air(natural chakra), just startling in the alien sensation, unlike the energy in living things. Most people just simply came to the conclusion that she was sickly. She had been called… Dreamy by friends of her parents because of her lack of attention and even though she was only two- nearly three, they thought her a little slow.

Sickly and slow.

She was at Sakura-nee's side like a small, silent shadow, which seemed to only encourage the sickly and slow image: it was frustrating to talk, while Alice had never been a linguist, she had been able to speak and underdeveloped vocal cords were just plain _annoying_ , and Sakura-nee's chakra was the most comfortable of all, a steadying rock to the otherwise turbulent flow of foreign chakra. It was one of the reasons Sakura-nee was so protective of her, she supposed, because of how everyone they knew saw her and how often she was near her, reaching out to her familiar chakra. They dismissed her and told the elder, actively social sister to try and take care of the younger one. Sakura-nee took that as a personal challenged, a responsibility that was a far cry from the child that was supposed to be shy at that age.

Her older sister had fallen asleep hours ago next to her in the futon over, a combination of her long trip to the market and the excitement of the fight her mother had participated in. She was curled around Yuki, slightly longer limbs like a gentle vice around her smaller form. She was warm, comfortable and even in her sleep careful not to touch Yuki skin to skin- a habit she had formed from the times that chakra would overwhelm Yuki and cause her to cough uncontrollably. Yuki had to gently move around her Sakura-nee's arm, settling her pillow to replace her in a quick practiced movement- Sakura-nee was a very affectionate child and had the habit of crawling into her futon(before her crib when they had still slept in their parent's room), especially when it was cold out. Sakura had wormed her way over to her futon and kicked her way into her blankets and curled around her with a huff, threading her small fingertips through Yuki's long hair, humming with small sniffles over what had happened that afternoon. Yuki had let her leech her warmth in the cool Autumn air and listened to her soft breath as she kept mindful of her mother's energy in the room over.

Her sister had started wailing once the Konoha police had come to take the civilian mob that had assaulted Naruto away. They were all pale, dark eyed and dark haired, what Yuki in her old life would have seen as of Asian descent(not here, not where nearly everyone's face blurred the line with their exotic colors of hair and eyes mixed with those features). The fact that the Uchiha were still alive had set off an alarm in the back of her head, but she readily ignored them to try and quiet her crying sister, blinking rapidly and forcing herself to move in her numbed state. Naruto had been reluctantly been pried away from her side by Anbu, two masked people, a cat, and a bear. His whispered promise to her that he would be back had cemented a sense of dread and certainty that her presence was changing things 'canon' to Naruto. Because for one, there was no 'canon' mention of Sakura having a sister and Naruto definitely hadn't met Sakura at a younger age because of it.

Feeling ill, Yuki carefully snuck out of the room she shared with her sister, through the living room and out the rice door to the back porch. Despite being rather distant from the center of the Village, the ruined back yard was still visible through a combination of a far off street light and the moon. Yuki heaved herself onto a beam that supported the roof over the porch. Using a combination of sheer force of will, determination and the climbing vines of flowers that were slowly dying as it got colder, she dragged herself onto the roof of her one-story house. It was the only place where she could see the stars without obstruction, so she laid flat on her back and stared at them. She breathed deeply through her nose, in and out, feeling her lungs work simply because they could work(funny how even as Alice, with Cancer, she had so quickly taken it for granted the simple action of breathing until it had been gone).

They were not the same stars as they were back in her old World. In October, in Japan, she should have seen certain constellations and it seemed it was not the case in this Universe.

 _Hercules and Sagittarius are gone. Everything is just not there. The blazing Giants I see... They're new stars, surrounded by planets that I can't name. Mars, Venus- All aren't in front of me. The only thing that's the same is the Moon- and even that is something different here. It looks the same but it'_ _s... It's not._

Alice had enjoyed to star-watch, on the odd days that they were in the more rural parts of the country for a vacation, she had mapped out the stars with pale, thin fingertips reaching for the sky. In October, in Japan, she should have seen certain constellations, and it seemed it was not the case in this Universe. Yuki had hardly looked at the sky in her nearly three years of life and she wondered how idiotic she had been to ignore it. It would have given her a clue to how off this new Universe was to her- and despite everything, the night sky was so _shockingly_ visible. Unblocked by light pollution and vast and endless in front of her. It was made her feel so small, in a way that nothing to do with her toddler body or the fact that she had been so blissfully ignorant of her reality. She closed her eyes to her new sky, breathing deeply through her nose.

Yuki had things to consider now that she knew she wasn't in her old World's Japan and she was too hyper aware of anything to sleep and to try and fall into obliviousness.

One, she wouldn't ever be able to see her family again. That was a given but it was still hard to swallow. That had been the driving force in accepting her lot in her second life, the thought that she could see her parents again once she was old enough. Maybe not as all consuming as it had been before- she loved her family. But it was what had made her kinder towards her second family in the first place: made her ease and even come to love them, as they gave her so much love and patience that she couldn't do much but respond. It had allowed her to fall into the role she had been given as a child, push past the awful and humiliating diaper changes and knee-jerk reactions that came with being an infant in contrast to her mental memories and impulses. She had become Yuki, the two-year-old daughter of Mebuki and Kizashi, the younger sister of Sakura. While she had not lost the sense of being Alice, Yuki Haruno was who she was and that wouldn't change, which is something she had come to accept as time had passed.

Now, she was in what seemed to be an entirely different universe and Amelia and Peter were as lost to her as she was lost to them.

She breathed deeply through her nose again.

Two, she was the sister of Sakura Haruno. She didn't know how to feel about that, for one, Sakura at the start of the manga had annoyed her. Overall, the character had frankly disappointed her because of the lack of well, doing anything productive before the time skip. She had liked Hinata better, because as shy as she been she had been, she was still a stronger person than Sakura. She had worked, tried to achieve something which is not the what Sakura had even attempted. She was, after all, a preteen when the series had ended and had been seeking something of a good role model in the females of any series she had been reading at that age. Sakura had been annoying and a one-note character that she ignored well enough. It wasn't until the Chunin exams did she start to feel any sort of like towards the character and for most of Shippuden she had been glad that the pink-haired kunoichi, the main female character, had been doing something and been gaining badass factors.

Her ending had frankly infuriated her the most of all, not only because she loathed the character Sasuke more than the genin Sakura, but because it had seemed that all of her strength and development had been canned at the end. So yeah, she didn't know what to feel about the fact that that same character was her three-year-old sister. On the one hand, her sister would become the second coming of Tsunade, a badass, and on the other, she would forever be linked with a dick of a character that frankly scared her. With Sasuke's lack of humanity, his obvious insanity and his twisted ways in the later parts of the manga, she wasn't sure if he could be forgiven in her book, not even when he helped save the world. After all, he had been set on nearly ending it himself. He had had his reasons, of course, the end of his family was a tragedy, no matter which way you sliced it, even with the revelation of the Uchiha being set to coup the village hierarchy...

But her Sakura-nee wasn't a blithering fan-girl so in 'wuv' with a dark and broody emotionally wrecked child, she was her sister, dammit, a fiery little girl who went to great lengths to care for her, who snuck her candy from her own stash and who played with her hair any chance she got. She was annoyingly bossy, competitive but Yuki loved her and Sakura-nee loved her back. She could hardly connect her sister with Sakura Haruno of the series and despite her coloring, it had never really come to mind.

Yuki loved her as much as Sakura-nee loved her and that didn't change despite her new knowledge of which world she was reincarnated into.

Three, her world. Several things suddenly made sense- The lack of technology, the strange fusion of both Japanese and Western culture. The fact that she hardly saw her father of this life and he always dressed rather strangely… The fact that her parents made a good show hiding her- A chill went down her spine. Her parents were always sure to ask her to keep talking to a minimum whenever there was company, to never use her 'code' language in front of others. The fact that her parents were keen on keeping her from being noticed by anyone was a miracle.

Child prodigies in the world of Naruto never had happy endings. Kakashi was left an emotional stiff and had lost nearly everyone he had ever cared for. Neji was cursed and in the shadow of the main branch, stifled and by the end of the manga, dead and not able to reap the positive changes in the world after the Fourth War. And of course, there was the strongest and scariest example, Itachi, a killer as a toddler and forced to commit genocide of his own family as a teenager.

Not to mention, the eyes of Danzo, lurking in the bowels of the Village to snap up anyone that could be useful to his plans and dreams of an iron fist resting over Konoha.

Yuki was in more danger than she had ever thought, living within the walls of her home for the past two years and her mother and father had helped her dodge that bullet even before she had been aware of it. She wasn't a prodigy herself, not in the traditional sense, but her parents and really anyone would see that in her mature responses, in her tendency for self-control that a child never really has. She would have to be careful, more than ever before, and walk a fine line to appear just slightly smarter than average in a city full of paranoid killers.

And that lead to thoughts four and five. She was in the world of Naruto. She had just met the 'protagonist' of the series and her sister was Haruno Sakura. There was no avoiding anything, no dodging where the manga would lead. Yuki couldn't fade into the background as a civilian, oh, she could try, she could become a merchant, or get a job, married or something like that and then be lined up for the slaughter.

This world was not kind to the weak, to the unnamed. It wasn't kind in general, not even here, in the 'nice' village, that much she had gathered from reading the manga. She was basically going to have the near world ending events, whether she wanted to or not.

And Yuki did not want to die, not so soon and definitely not so young again.

Eleven and fourteen were a shitter ages than sixteen. Living in Konoha during Orochimaru's or Pein's invasion without being able to fight for her life left her completely cold.

She did not want to kill. She came from a world where the very act was considered the worst of offenses, where it was horrified and the thought of even trying to commit such a thing made her curl into herself. Hell, even hurting someone physically was a sign of the uneducated and lower class. But here, that was the opposite- the only way to thrive was to fight, the only choice to _live_ was to fight with her fists, with the blood of the people that would try to kill her. What choice did she have? She had to become a ninja, she had no goddamn choice about that if she wanted to live. Her being Sakura's sister would leave her no option.

Yuki, as Alice, had always wanted to be able to have a fantastical life story, to be called a hero.

The old saying, 'be careful what you wish for' never seemed truer than it did now. She breathed deeply again through her nose, making sure to take in some of the chakra in the air as well, keeping mind of the startling sensation of feeling of the energy that powered this world. That allowed people to do marvelous things. Things that would be impossible in her old world… And that would cause fire and blood in its wake. It was so easy to dismiss when it's dark ink on a page.

Now she wouldn't be able to ignore it.

"Yuki, what are you doing on the roof at this hour?" came a calm, deep voice.

Yuki turned to her father, blinking at his appearance. She hadn't even sensed him, his careful perch at the very top of the roof and his lounging position suggested that he must have been there a while. He was just far enough away that he was out of her range, the fact that her father noticed her range of sensing only further cemented in her mind that he was a damn ninja. He had also encouraged her little exercise of refining her chakra sensitivity- 'her game of walking blind'- her parents were training her for what was going to be her way of survival even before she had realized. She licked her lips. He was dressed in a flak vest, dark and deemed him to be at least of a Chunin rank and his headband flashed in the moonlight around his neck. Thankfully, he didn't seem hurt, nor have any blood on or coming from him. He just looked tired, with bags under his distinctly bloodshot, green eyes and a pale skin that came with the lack of sleep. She stared at him, with the pink hair that he had given both her sister and herself, at the way he was holding himself, carefully still and eyes watching her. She stood, her legs hardly wobbling at the sharp incline of the roof( _'Yuki-chan balance!'_ ).

"I'm thinkin'," she replied, softly and watched as he carefully picked his way towards her.

He didn't make a sound against the slanted, tiled roof, walking in his blue sandals(a much darker, muddier blue than the anime or manga depicted) on the balls of his feet and in such a way that made her think of a stocking animal. If he were anyone else, she would have been alarm at the way he was approaching her. But he was her father and he always walked that way, ninja or not. Carefully, very gently, as if he was afraid that she would be hurt by his large, rough hands, he picked her up and lifted and pulled her into his lap. He sat crossed legged and his arms closed around her as if to protect her from the world and the slight wind blowing. She wished as she settled comfortably back into the protective cage he had made from his body, that he _could_ protect her from the horror of this world.

"About the boy you helped today," he said and his warm voice vibrated through her back in a soothing way. Kizashi was an affectionate man, dotting on both wife and children as much as they would let them and he was always keen to pick up his daughters and hold them close.

"Yes," in a way, she was thinking of Naruto and what that afternoon had caused her to realize and the best lies were always the lies that had truth in them.

"Why did you help him?"

She blinked at the question because that wasn't really what she expected him to ask. Her father wasn't looking at her when she looked up to his face, but out at the backyard. At the ruined berry bushes and at the trampled flower garden, at the small sakura and ume trees, her mother had planted just under a year ago around their property, to supplement the lack of trees beyond the one large thing that towered over the house. His face was blank, stoic and still. Yuki blinked.

"Because he was scared."

Her father smiled, distant and worried.

"Did you ever think of what would happen to the both of you if they found you?" her father did not raise his voice, he didn't have to.

"I knew mama was comin'."

"What if she was delayed, what if she was too late? Yuki, you could have been seriously hurt."

"Naruto would 'ave been anyway."

Her father didn't say a word then, just tightened his arms around her, pressing his slightly stubbly face into her long hair and gathering her closer. He huffed a breath, making the pale strands of her pink hair move with the movement. His breath was right in her ear, slightly ragged and rapid.

"Why did they want to hurt him?" she asked her father quietly, even if she already knew the answer.

"It's… A very sensitive day. He was just in the wrong place."

She didn't pay much mind to time passing, she figured once she was old enough for school she would pay more attention. She knew it was October though and if today was a sensitive day, that meant the Festival of the 'defeat' of the Kyuubi. The fact that she had met Naruto running away from a mob that wanted to beat him on his birthday made a part of her want to throw up. She squirmed in her father's lap, hands tightening into fists.

"He shouldn't have been chased like that," she hissed and her father sighed into her hair.

"No, he shouldn't have. But people do strange things when they drink."

"I want to be his friend!"

Her father froze and she felt her heart speed up at the implications of her own impulsive words. She did want to be his friend- Because it meant that she was changing the story of the world she had read in her life as Alice. Naruto had been alone until his genin team. But this was her life too and she be damned if she let her own life be ruled by what she had read. She wanted to live. She did not want to sit back and lie on the expectation that the world would be alright if she let the 'story' play out. She had already changed things by merely existing, she be damn if she didn't choose to change things on purpose.

But beyond that... A life like the one Naruto would've lead was one she wouldn't wish on anybody. As Alice, the little girl with cancer she had to lead a very lonely life. She knew what it was like to be ignored, to be stared at. To be misunderstood for what was inside of you, for what was beyond your control. She would rather jump off a cliff than let anyone else go through a life like that.

"Yuki, people don't treat the boy right for a reason," her father cautioned, carefully, his voice rising in his panic.

"I thought he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said shrewdly.

Her father just sighed again at her response.

"I can't protect you all the time, my little Snow-bud. Being his friend will put you in danger," he said softly, using his nickname for her, one that connected her with her family.

She had been named snow, because she had been born on the day when it had snowed for the first time in nearly thirty years in their Village, or so had said her mother when she had discovered that the name of all of her family had followed a common theme of plants(her sister, Sakura, the cherry blossom, her father Kizashi, sprouting, and by some luck of fate, her mother Mebuki, budding ). It had been so striking and beautiful that day that her mother couldn't possibly ignore it and call her Ume, plum blossom, the winter tree that bloomed at the time.

"I don' expect you too. And I want to be his friend anyway."

Her father hummed and it is a deep sound that resonates through his broad chest, into her small chest and into her hair.

"Alright. It's your choice."

And considering the world she had been born to, it was a miracle that he allowed her to make it.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Yuki needed a plan.

So the first thing she did in the morning is ask her mother if she could replace her ruined ink set. Her mother had smiled and mentioned that the small store at the very edge of the market was having a sale and she wouldn't mind it. They did their morning training, had breakfast, dressed, all in red and white clothing that bore the Haruno crest, and in a Chinese style dress at their mother's insistence. Yuki had allowed her father to braid her hair as her mother didn't seem to have a talent for it and the small family had been on their way. Sakura, curious at their destination had been talking a mile a minute holding her mother's hand, as well as Yuki's. Their father, on a rare day off, was on Yuki's other side and he had a firm grip on her hand. It was rare that the entire family went out together and even rarer that they hold such a distinct leash on their two small children. The situation with Naruto must have shaken them deeply.

It had never occurred to Yuki that the fierce independence that she enjoyed from her current set of parents steamed from the fact that the people of the Naruto Universe expected much from their offspring. Now, she could see the mentality from two parents that lived in a society that produced child-soldiers.

She would use that to her advantage she supposed and be grateful of that despite the fact that the mere mention of the words 'child-soldiers' set her ill at ease.

The store at the edge of the market was fairly far from her house, in the nearer to the center of the Village and now, with a better understanding of where she was, Yuki wondered how the hell she could have _missed_ it but took solace in the fact that it wasn't too obvious. She didn't leave her house often, considering she had been a baby for the first year, her mother hadn't been too inclined to leave it with an infant and toddler in tow. Once she had started walking, she had much preferred to stay back home and try to improve her language skills or try to get a semblance of control of a toddler body with the mentality of someone used to the body of a teenager. Her parents had learned to trust her with herself and she hadn't really questioned it. She wondered if she had been more inclined to leave her house would she have noticed much sooner and wouldn't have needed the main protagonist crashing through her mother's berry bushes to realize where she was.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was a strange fusion of Japanese and Western culture, curious rounded buildings with pagoda-style roofs and it was so _big_ , the few overhead shots of the manga in black and white lead nothing to the overall scale of the Village and both she, her mother, father and Sakura had to travel for about an hour by foot to get to the market. She suspected it would have been quicker to travel on their parents' backs, but she also reasoned that she hadn't realized the fact that her parents were freakin' ninjas in the first place because they didn't really flaunt it.

Well, her father was a current ninja and she suspected that her mother had either retired or decided to take a few years off while her children grew up. After all, she was a martial artist and a rather badass one at that. She trained Sakura and her every morning and while they seemed to have the mentality that both she and Sakura would make their choices whether they would become a ninja, her mother insisted: as she recalls a furious conversation when she had started with her father, talking about the merit of training their children no matter what they decided down the line, which suddenly made a lot of sense, that her children knew how to at least defend themselves.

The store itself was a small ink and paper, and book shop combination, a little hole in the wall that she would have missed if it weren't for her mother walking towards it. It was simply called the 'Book Tree'; a pun on the use of the same Kanji within both the words 'tree' and 'book'. Her mother went to go pick out a decent ink set so she could practice her Kanji while Sakura and their father went to a traditional sweets shop next door. Yuki herself marched over to the small 'western' part of the store, where bound notebooks(most likely for older kids in school) pens, pencils(mechanical or not) were set up. She had a good amount of money with her, via her new year money still in the red envelopes from last year and the year before(why she had been given one as an infant was beyond her, but she appreciated it now), as well as chore money, so she wanted to buy a couple, enough to organize both her thoughts and her plan.

To her dismay, the notebooks were fairly expensive and she suspected it was because they were school supplies. The cheapest notebooks were two hundred pages, but only about seven by six inches big, with pretty cheap looking paper and even then it would eat up her small spending money. She didn't want to spend all of her money, intent on being frugal so she could have money when Sakura started school(she be damn if she wouldn't go with Sakura, she might not graduate the same year, but she at least wanted to have a head start, nearly a year younger than her sister or not). But, she supposed she would get two more years worth of new year's money until she started the Academy and chore money... But she needed to write things down before she forgot things with time. She didn't have a photographic memory in her last life and she doubted she would in this life either.

So with a slight cringe at the prices, she picked up four of the notebooks, a pack of ballpoint pens, and a set of highlighters that were in the nearly empty sales bin. She walked over to the cashier, ignored the raised brow of her mother and stood on tiptoes to pay for her purchases, grim face. The young man manning the cashier eyes went soft at the sight of her and she knew that two, nearly three-year-old cuteness wouldn't be denied, and made her eyes wide and made sure to pout her tiny lips. She managed to get a good discount, though she suspected it was because she amused the cashier by trying to haggle in the first place, rather than her expert skills and clutched the paper bagged items to her chest. She had used more than half her spending money, but it was still a good base for the future.

Her mother seemed just as amused and paid for her new ink set, stacks of writing paper and a couple of blank scrolls.

"Thanks, Fumio-san," mentioned her mother, extending her hand to Yuki.

Yuki took it and glanced at the young man, who her mother had addressed by his first name, knowing that the strictness of name calling had carried over from the Japanese aspect of the world. Her eyes narrowed, the paranoia of the fact that she was in the world of Naruto seizing her. She let her sixth sense open up, nearly stumbling at the influx of chakra around her. She had hardly noticed it because the build had been gradual, but evidently, the use of chakra in the center of the Village and hence in the air was thicker than her neighborhood. She coughed for a beat, violently much to the dismay of her mother who kneeled down to rub her back. She gritted her teeth and pushed past the sudden awareness of so much energy swirling in the air around her and looked closely at Fumio, eyes narrowed.

He had small amounts of chakra, slightly bigger than Sakura but overall the weakest she had seen in an adult. Not a ninja then, she mused, relaxing. He grinned down at her, a little worried at her sudden coughing fit, but unaware of her wariness as she reeled in her sense. She stopped coughing and her mother stood, keeping an eye on her from the corner of her eyes.

"You're welcome, Mebuki-san, as always, the store appreciates your business. Is this one of your daughters?" he glanced curiously at Yuki, bright brown eyes intent.

"My youngest Yuki, her sister Sakura is next door with Kizashi. Yuki, say hello to Sasaki Fumio, he and his mother run the shop."

Yuki bowed and smiled politely at him.

"Nice to meet you, Sasaki-san," she mumbled and smiled and had a feeling she and the young man would get to know each other fairly well by the nature of his business.

"Nice to meet you Yuki-chan. Call me Fumio," he said pleasantly and she smiled wider at the invitation to use his first name. Most of the adults she interacted(which weren't much mind you, just a few friends from her parents) wouldn't give her the courtesy.

"Well, I promise my husband that we would go to the park after this… Have a good day Fumio-san."

"Have fun," he mused and bowed them lazily from the shop.

Her father and sister met them outside, her father with a bag full of Tai Yaki* in one arm, a stacked series of bento in the other and Sakura on his back. Part of Yuki wanted to say something along the lines of ' _stop, no time for fun, we have a fucking Apocalypse to survive and a Goddess to contend with'_. But most of her beamed, because despite her worries, despite everything, some of that stuff could wait.

Because she was only two years old, going on three in her second life, and if dying of cancer taught her anything... It was the happy times and sweet moments that life offered you must be cherished and not dismissed. So she squealed, gave her mother her purchases, and pounced on her father's back next to her sister.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Later, after her family was asleep, Yuki went to the secret safe room in the wall and turned on the small light bulb at the back. Carefully she pulled out her notebooks from the paper bag and was reminded vividly of her life as Alice: she had had hundreds of notebooks, dozens, filled with her thoughts, her favorite recipes, her unfinished experience of her bucket list and passages, quotes of her favorite books and famous people. It wasn't quite the same to her, then, typing it up on her computer, preferring the smear of ink on her hands, the feel and weight of each book that held bits and pieces of her. It was as if she had left part of herself for her parents and now, that skill would aid her well in the journey to survive the World of Naruto. She spread each different color notebook out, and wrote on each one, carefully and as neatly as her clumsy toddler hands could in English:

 _The Events of and Characters of Naruto_

 _Survival Plan_

 _Things of the Universe of Amelia and Peter_

 _The Life of Alice Day-Tyler_

She rocked back, staring at would begin to mark her time as Yuki, just as those endless journals had marked her time as Alice. In the Green, she would write of what she remembered of the World she now lived in. In Blue, her plan of survival. In Orange, it was all the things missing- the bits and pieces of her world she missed, the stories she had devoured then, the things she had eaten then, all the things she would never experience first hand again. And in Red, the story of her first(that she knew of or remembered) life.

Feeling centered and calm, she reached for Green.

* * *

 **AN: I do not own Naruto, it belong to its author/artist, publishing and broadcasting companies.**

 **This is just me, making misshapen sand castles in its sandbox.**

 **Edit: 14 July 2017**

 ***Tai Yaki- a Japanese cake in the shape of a fish, typically filled sweetened red bean paste, as well as other fillings, like chocolate or sweet potato and the like. It's more of a fall desert.**


	4. Growing Pains Arc: Baby Steps

**Baby Steps:**

 _"_ _There was nothing to name, time_ _held its tongue. A dancing foaming_ _above dull thuds. The dark_ _hollow that neither lacked nor longed_ _became home to a boundless_ _being that grew, blind,_ _to the beat of my heart. I_ _t was her. Wordless and free_ _to receive the soothing rhythm._ _She listened to the rustling throb,_ _and heard, tucked up against it,_ _the hasty tick of her beginning," Beginnings, Anna Enquist, translated by David Colmer 2013._

Naruto Uzumaki had only know kindness from three people in his short life. From Ji-ji in the weird long robes that would visit him and always pick him up into his arms, letting him tug at the stiff hairs on his face and took his complaints of the smells of the pipe clenched between lips with a laugh, the sweet care provider, Atsuko* at the orphanage(not like the others that refused to go near him and gave him sour smelling food and ratty old blankets) who fed him and brushed his hair with a gentle hand and from Inu, one of the white-faced people that lingered in shadows, closer than the others and gave him an odd toy or sweet. He lead a very lonely, boring life and he was ignored by most of the people around him: if not ignored, he was pinched and kicked and had his hair pulled. He hardly ever left the Orphanage, only with Ji-ji, and he was never allowed to leave on field trips like the rest were because of it.

This year was different, on his birthday, he had turned three years old, practically an adult, and he knew that that year was the year- He had been so excited, so ready to follow the rest of the orphanage to the Autumn Festival. Last year, he hadn't been allowed to go, due to the Old Bag of a Matron being scolded by Atsuko, claiming he was too young. This year had been different, and Atsuko was sick so he didn't have to argue his case, and the Old Bag had let him go(he had not seen the cold, satisfied sneer forming on her face, eyes flickering to the trees outside. The white faced people there had turned a blind eye, distant relations to the Matron).

Naruto had been too gleeful to care or notice, careful to dress in his best (orange and bright, a gift from Atsuko)shirt and tried to comb his messy hair. He had not expected to lose the group of orphan kids as soon as they made it to the Festival when a brightly colored mask had caught his eye and he hadn't expected the mess of adults that had whispered from the bad smelling stand at the edge of the Festival. Naruto wasn't stupid, despite what the Sensei at the Orphanage said and when several of the adults at the stand had started throwing bottles at him, one coming startling close to his feet and sending shattered pieces along with his bare legs and arms- he had started to run. He remembered faintly where he had come from and had tried to find his way back to the Orphanage.

Naruto hardly left the place- Ji-ji, and Atsuko had made sure of it- so while he could go towards the general direction, he found himself terribly lost. He was desperate, and all he could think of was to crash through the bushes next to him to get away from the screaming and stumbling mob when he saw that he was cornered.

Naruto had long learned that other children didn't like him- three years of being hit and pushed around by the big kids and the little kids being herded away from him had taught him that. So, when he saw the little girl on the porch, he had felt his heart sink. She was smaller than him, with chubby arms and legs, and that implied that she was younger. She looked towards him with these pretty big, pale blue eyes that were so large that they looked odd in her surprised face. The weirdest thing about her was the long, long pale _pink_ hair that reached her waist, so pale that it looked nearly white. He had decided to ignore her, scrambled out of the bushes to get away from the mob. When he had tripped, and felt a sharp twinge of his ankle, a fierce scrape along his knee. She had blinked at him, turned sharply at the noises in the bushes and nearly in one second, without any hesitation, had turned in the fourth person to ever be truly kind to him.

She had dragged him away, helped him limp along when she realized in a second that his leg couldn't support his weight and hugged him in that dark room behind the wall, pressing against him in comfort as the noise of the adults crashed around her house. Naruto had never been so stunned- no child near his age had even tried to be near him, the mean nature of the Matern and the rest of the caregivers making sure that no kid would want to. But here was this pretty little girl, clutching to him in the dark, grip tight and shaking slightly. Naruto had clutched back with all his strength, so close to tears because someone had actually tried to help him, someone, who wasn't Ji-ji, Atsuko, and Inu.

Her mother had been just as nice, if a little blunt and while her sister, Sakura, was just as pretty as the girl, Yuki, she was upset that he had gotten her sister to burst into tears. She had hit and screamed at him and she had burst into tears again herself. He had no idea what to do, staring at Yuki with confusion. Yuki herself was looking like he felt when one of the ex-caregivers had 'accidentally' dropped a vase on his head, blinking and gently soothing her darker haired sister. She kept staring at him, soft eyes wide and curious. He had shifted and when the mob of stinky adults had been taken away and felt sad when Kuma and Neko had come to collect him.

"I promise to come back," he had told the still crying, girl, stealing a hug, gathering her close to his chest.

The girl had returned the hug weakly as if what had just happened had finally registered now that he and Yuki were safe. Neko had come in a gripped him by his upper arms, and pulled him off the girl. Much as he wanted to stay, he knew he had to leave. So, here he was in his new apartment, the white-faced people hovering in the corners. He had to wait one entire week until Ji-ji came to see him, exclaiming how big he was that he could handle living alone now. Atsuko would come to visit him once in awhile, he cheerfully said.

Naruto liked that well enough, but all he could think of was that sweet little girl and he felt his foot tapping in impatience. Ji-ji noticed- the Old Man noticed everything. He stared down at Naruto, handing him a small present- A small potted plant. Naruto loved plants, he had several from Inu and Atsuko waiting for him from when he came to his new small apartment. He took it and thanked the old man, placing it quickly in a good place on the windowsill, next to the rest.

"Why are you so impatience, Naruto-kun?" he asked, kindly.

Naruto shifted, his bare toes curling on the soft, worn wooden floors of his new home.

"I wanna go see Yuki-chan," he muttered, looking down at the even stare. He didn't have to explain who Yuki was-

Ji-ji always knew, everything that happened in his life. Ji-ji didn't say a word, simply sighed. He placed a careful hand on his shoulder and smiled. Naruto felt a bubble of hope appear in his chest and smiled back.

"Now?" he asked, and Naruto nodded eagerly.

Ji-ji lifted him up, gently, nodded at Inu, who appeared as suddenly as he always did.

"Let's go visit your friend, Naruto-kun," said Ji-ji, and Naurto gripped tightly at the long, white robes.

 **000000000000000000**

Yuki was doing her morning exercises when she felt four sets of chakra enter her twenty feet range. She stiffened, because while two of the chakra are very familiar(intermixing really, into one big one), the other two are not. And the other two are the strongest and largest she has ever felt, even larger than her father's, even large than Naruto's principal one(Kumara is a completely different matter altogether). It makes her stumble, causing Sakura to snort, but then call out in alarm when Yuki hacks out a startling amount of coughs, falling to her little knees.

Her mother is next to her in a second, rubbing soothingly at her back. Yuki just focuses on clearing her lungs, and taking away the burning feeling of the strong chakra with desperation, fingertips digging into the soft earth that had been cleared away to make a small sparing ring in their backyard. She has to focus on a chakra that is soothing and familiar. She latches onto Sakura's chakra, simply because it is the smallest and Yuki can narrow her focus on its little-

The three chakra's falter, and quickly the largest one speeds towards her. Like an explosion, it takes away all of her focus, all of her intent on Sakura's chakra. She grinds her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut at the amount of discomfort.

She can't _breathe_ , all the chakra is pressing against her windpipe, clawing at her own chakra network.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, please back away," it's her mother's voice who says this, but it's heard from very, very far away. It's hard to hear really, with her heart roaring in her ears.

The fact that the Third Hokage is in her home with Naruto does not alarm her, per say, because all Yuki can focus on is to get a semblance of control of her damn coughs. She is trembling at the onslaught of the Hokage's chakra, deep and so all-consuming that she hadn't realized that people could be that strong could exist. The Kyuubi is locked away, far bigger, but it was like she had faulty radio reception- she only could feel bits of him, and while it startled her, she could ignore it much more easily than she could the amount of glaring chakra the Hokage had.

The electrifying man, just within her range and hovering near a concerned Naruto didn't help matters. He was a live-wire hot and steady pulse. Curiously, she sensed a second bit of chakra from him, softer, faint. The Hokage, the electric man and Naruto back away, and Yuki feels the discomfort if her throat lessen. She blinks, shakes her head, swivels her head towards the Hokage, a Inu masked anbu that sends a jolt to her system because despite his cloak she knows who was assigned that(the second chakra suddenly makes sense, as Obito's Sharingan eye is grafted onto Kakashi's chakra network) and a worried looking Naruto.

She takes a deep breath and focuses once again on Sakura. Sakura's chakra is small, the smallest she has ever felt, but it is warm, familiar and gentle. It is a gentle spring ray of sun, steady, slightly soft but something you eagerly soak in. Sakura's chakra is one of the few that doesn't cause Yuki to start going into fits once it flares(neither her mother or father cause such a reaction)- It might be because they share a room and are in such close quarters that Yuki has built an immunity to them, it might be because genetically, they are very close to her. She doesn't care to know, all she does is focus on how her sister's chakra fluctuates with worry and alarm.

She shakily stands up after five minutes or so, steadier than before. Her mother has a tentative arm hovering at her shoulder, and Sakura- is next to her, pink brows furrowed. She gives a shaky nod before she takes a step in the direction of their guests. She still feels immense discomfort at the size and feel of their chakra, but she is pleased that she only has a mild headache and she isn't coughing. Even if she does feel a distinct pressure on her throat and lungs. Everyone gives off chakra; just be expelling energy, it was what was mostly in the air, slowly filtering out away from the personal 'sensation' that each person gave and cycling back into the natural, neutral chakra. It was especially thick in the busier parts of town. It doesn't help that chakra tends to fluctuate with emotions or personalities. She blinks, shakes her head and tries not to puzzle out the unique and complex chakras of two of the most powerful adults in this world. Instead, she just focuses on her sister and mother, on the way the chakra laced air is going in and out of her lungs.

Her mother and sister walk forward. Yuki stays half a step away from behind them and doesn't move closer after they reach a certain point.

"Hokage-sama," says her mother pleasantly, bowing. She and Sakura-nee follow suit.

"Mebuki-chan, how lovely to see you again," he says softly, and little Naruto shifts impatiently from foot to foot.

His grin is a little shy, fingers fumbling in his large shirt, but he is practically vibrating with energy. Yuki can feel it, how his chakra bubbles and frothes with his ethusiam. She licks her lips and coughs again.

"Yuki-chan!" he calls out, he waves as she finds herself giving him a smile.

"Naruto-kun," she replied and she is quite pleased that despite the slight hoarseness in her voice, she can still speak. A little closer and she knows she won't be able too, so she keeps her distance.

The Hokage's eyes, dark and measuring, turns to her. His brow furrows.

"Have you been ill, child?"

Her mother frowns.

"Hokage-sama, Yuki is extremely chakra sensitive."

A light of understanding sparks in those coal black eyes. He turns to her, blinking, chewing absently at the pipe he holds in his mouth. He has yet to go completely gray, with a few wisps of dark brown hair in his beard, notes Yuki, as he will in a couple years. He is a tall man, not as tall as the masked Kakashi beside him but still imposing from her very short vantage point. He is weathered in face and tan, wrinkled and had a few liver spots on his hands, face, but his back is straight, his dark eyes are clear as he looks her over. he smiles, the picture of a stately grandfather.

Yuki doesn't buy it for a second. This was the same man that had gone toe to toe with Orochimaru and nearly one if it hadn't been for his age and his lack of assistance.

"I see. Inu, dismissed."

'Inu' nods, hesitating for a brief second before he jumps away. He doesn't go anywhere, but he's farther away than before, at the very edge of her twenty-meter range in the only tree that had come with the property, an old cherry tree right next to the small home. Yuki shifts from foot to foot and turns once again to Naruto.

"You came back," she smiles at him, beaming really. She can't focus on the repercussions of the presence of Kakashi and the Third- she needed to see to Naruto first and foremost.

He beams back, one of his molars missing in his huge smile. The two-near three-year-old in her is jealous that he is already going to start having his baby teeth out as she had not been found of the teething stage _at all_. The sixteen-year-old in her finds herself cooing at his adorable smile.

"I never break a promise, datteboyo!"

She laughs.

"Yes, Naruto-kun was most eager to meet you, Yuki-chan," said the Hokage joyfully, and he ruffles spiky blonde locks.

Embarrassed, the young boy paws at the wrinkled hand with a howl.

"Oi, Ji-Ji!"

She giggles and her sister makes a noise in the back of her throat at the blatant disrespect the younger boy has for the Hokage. Naruto eases away from the man, and stumbles towards her like an eager puppy, grinning all the way. The Hokage gives a brief nod to her mother before he sits pleasantly on their porch. He sits like all old men do, relaxing with a huff, pipe in mouth as he leans against a post. She purses her lips for a fraction of a second but turns to Naruto when he tugs at her dress. He's squinting at her, blue eyes careful slits as he stares at her. His hand is still fisted into her the material of her white dress, and he scoots forward, closer to her face. She has a vivid flashback to the manga, where he had done this exact thing and gotten to kiss a boy for his efforts.

He steps back suddenly, nodding his head. His hand smooths down her rumpled qipao. He beams.

"You've not hurt anymore. Wanna play?" he extends a hand, and his grin is all foxy and eager.

She nods but then turns to her mother.

"After me and Sakura-nee finish our morning exercises. Right mama?" she says, and her mother smiles in approval before she nods.

"Yes, you're welcome to join us Naruto-kun," her mother also looks at her, a silent warning behind her green eyes.

Yuki reads the message loud and clear and makes a deliberate show of how difficult it is to get her small limbs to get into the correct stance. Sakura-nee does the same, a good five feet away from her, and mimicking them, Naruto does the same. His stance is worse than her artificial one. Yuki's mother corrects it with a firm hand and a small Hokage is a distinct but firm presence and watched as her mother gets in front of them. Her little heart is pounding, but she just has to breathe deeply through her nose and focus on her mother's figure.

"Pay attention, Naruto-kun, and don't mind if you don't get it perfect."

"I'll be the best, dattebayo!" response the little boy.

Sakura-nee puffs up, little chest out and a glare on her face.

"Nu-uh! I'll be the best!"

Yuki stays silent, only narrows her eyes and tries not to stare at the Hokage or the fact that Kakashi has not left them, taking roost and watching them like the scarecrow that he was.

"Ready?" calls her mother, and they all nod.

They finish the rest of their exercise without incident. One step at a time, Naruto beaming and then scowling when her mother corrected him. But he diligently follows, mimicking stances clumsily and eagerly. Somewhere in the back of her head, Yuki is certain that this will become a regular thing, though she wonders if the Hokage staring them down will also become regular. Considering the huge gap that both her sister and Naruto had to overcome to become the powerhouses they had been in Shippuden, Yuki is _determined_ to make sure that it becomes regular.

But, as Sakura-nee and Naruto scowl at each other, she knows it will be best be taken very slowly.

"You suck!" screams Sakura.

Naruto makes a face.

"I'm better than you!" he howls back.

 _Baby steps_ , thinks Yuki as she eyes her sister and the eventual saver of the world.

"I hate you, baka!"

"YOU'RE STUPID!"

 _Really tiny, baby steps_.

* * *

 **AN: I do not own Naruto, its rights go to its author/artist, publishing and broadcasting companies.**

 **This is just me, playing in its sandbox, making misshapen sandcastles.**

 **Edit 19 June 2017**


	5. Growing Pains Arc: Limitations

**Growing Pains Arc:**

 **Limitations**

 _"_ _I sigh a lot,_ _and my tears taste like the ocean,_ _and I don't talk very loud,_ _and I stutter a little,_ _and I am not very pretty,_ _and I am constantly tripping over air,_

 _but,_ _I could love you with every bit_ _of my Awkward Little Self i_ _f you would just give me the chance._ _I already love you, though,_ _and that's the hardest part,_ _" Limitations Jo Hummel 2014_

Naruto came to their house every day, sometimes, he would even stay over when it was too late to go to his apartment(Naruto would do this on purpose, she was sure, as he stayed later and later as time went on). Sometimes, the Hokage accompanied him(it got less and less frequent the longer Naruto came), every time, an Anbu hung out in the oldest tree in the yard. The Anbu differed every week, but more often than not it was Kakashi, hood up, perched carefully on a thick branch and out of sight, the dog mask firm and white amongst the leaves if you knew what to look for. Because of the size of the property, each time they were outside(which was frequent because of Naruto's never-ending bundle of energy), Yuki would sense the Anbu, and became an expert at picking out the masks against the was the most frequent, even if his watches were spaced out months apart at times, the familiar dog mask memorized within the first three months of Naruto becoming her friend. Yuki knew she shouldn't acknowledge him, but since her sensitivity was already known, she made it her mission to at least make a good impression on Kakashi(he was so important down the line… And not only that, if things like fate were true, he would have Naruto's and Sakura-nee's life in his hands). A little buttering up could go a long way in endearing her family to the future sensei.

Every time he arrived, and whenever Naruto was distracted by Sakura-nee's snarky comments, Yuki would bow in his direction, deeply. The teenage future sensei of her sister never reacted outwardly, but each time his chakra would flare slightly as if to acknowledge her gesture. At first, it had been of sheer surprise and unease, and now it was pointed, firm if brief. A little, if curt, wave. But a wave nonetheless.

She also left him snacks. It wasn't often that he took them, but on occasion, the rice ball or sweet she had left at the base of the tree would disappear, so she took it as a good sign. She quickly learned his tastes as time passed, and made sure to leave his favorites there, glad that her mother and strictly implemented Sakura, Naruto and her to help in the kitchen as soon as she could. She didn't do it to the other Anbu, or at least the snacks, she did bow, but left the snacks to Kakashi. After all, he was the one that was there the most often, so she made it appear as if it was a good gesture towards the one that took care of her friend.

More or less, Naruto became such a staple at their home as time passed, that his small apartment had more or less become a greenhouse of sorts for his horticulture obsession(he had a surprisingly green thumb, and adored plants nearly as much as he adored ramen, and that's saying something). He also had most of his instant ramen collection taking up most of his cabinets space, and a few odd sweets lining his fridge with a few staples that had a long shelf life as per her mother's stern instruction. The guest room had more or less become his: most of his clothes were in the closet, mostly purchased by Yuki's mother, his oh so beloved gama-chan had a secret hidey-hole somewhere in his room and he left his wooden ninja-practice gear(a gift from the Hokage) next to his futon in a small little nightstand. Even after Yuki and Sakura had been designated old enough to have their own, Naruto's bedroom had more or less been left alone in their small squabble to see who got what room(Yuki had been pleased to keep the old room, even as Sakura boasted about the size of the room down the hall).

The fact that the container for the Kyuubi had moved into her home more or less was not a cause of alarm and none of their neighbors had caught onto it(as most of the neighbors were civilians, they tended to give their family a wide berth, despite their more civilian ties themselves) or anyone else for that matter. Kakashi's and the Third's work no doubt, or some sort of agreement with the ninja community at large to leave the Orphan be after the attempt to beat him so long ago. The fact that no ninja had tried to attack them yet in the time passed, she assumed that he had kept the likes of Danzo and the Council in the dark as well(mostly at least, they hadn't darkened her door yet).

More or less they settled into a routine, and Yuki made sure to push both Naruto and Sakura-nee in areas they weren't comfortable with. She pushed Naruto into the theoretical and basic skills(her mother, once again was their teacher, and an excellent one at that, Yuki could see how the manga-version of Sakura had gotten her bookish inclination, her mother may be a genin in rank, as she had found out, but she was easily a junin in sheer knowledge and that was scary considering the number of clearances her mother would have to get around to know this stuff, (not that Yuki was supposed to notice it, of course), he wasn't stupid per say, but she had a strong inclination that he was at the least had ADHD, and maybe had some mild form of dyslexia. He was also highly impatient, but Yuki was stubborn. She be damn if he didn't have the same reading level as her by the time he went to the Academy.

Sakura-nee was a little easier to push then Naruto when it came to the physical. After all, she had discovered early on that her sister was _highly_ competitive, and having two rivals instead of one put a fire to her soul. Her sister was no shrieking violet, but a fiery, stubborn little girl that didn't take no for an answer, and pushed herself to match both Yuki in sheer skill(Yuki cheated, she practiced outside of training and begged her father to teach her a few pointers on the side) and Naruto in sheer stamina. Uzumaki and Kyuubi combination made for a powerhouse that Yuki knew would only become _stronger._ Her sister refused to stop, and her reaction only made Naruto try harder to improve his own technical skills.

Yuki tried to keep it balanced as well. On the one hand, memories of a sixteen-year-old definitely gave her a huge leg up when it came to the mental aspect of preparing herself. While the language barrier had been a factor, her mind had taken to Japanese like a duck to water, and now she was pretty far ahead when it came to Kanji. Sakura beat her out of sheer stubbornness, but Yuki didn't mind too much and took solace that she was better at math anyway, much to her sister's chagrin, of course. Out of the three of them, Naruto was the best at thinking on his feet, so they gave him that. He wasn't a slouch at all, just had different mental strengths.

The physical aspect of her life was wonderful. Having cancer didn't make one physically weaker, per say, that was the Chemo, and the various bone grafts and blood transfusions to try to counter her Leukemia. Subsequently, that and the added concern of her parents, Alice hadn't spent a lot of time outside or working her body beyond mild physical therapy. She had been bedridden more often than not, especially towards the end(she had thought it was only a bad turn, but in reflection, Yuki could see that as Alice, her body had been easing her towards death). Now, as Yuki, especially after that frightful infant stage, she much more preferred to move her body, to push it to see just what it could do. And oh, what it could do always managed to take her breath in surprise...

Time passed.

Before she realized it, she was three years old(Naruto had sweetly given her a little cactus, which now sat proudly on her window sill, next to the other little plants he had given her), and then she was four(another cactus joined the thriving one of the previous year). Four wasn't an important age for her, but it was important for her sister, who had turned five ten months prior, and more importantly in time to join the lowest rim of the Academy, along with an over-eager Naruto, who had changed the timeline of her previous world Manga and opted to wait before being admitted to the Academy to ' _Be with Sakura-chan!_ '.

Even though he was technically below the cutoff age, the Hokage was making a special exception, one which, he had extended to Yuki as well, calling her aside one day:

" _You're strong already Yuki-chan, and you keep Naruto grounded. Please think it over carefully._ "

 _She bowed deeply at the leader of her Village, face hot and most likely beat red at the honest compliment, as well as a quiver of unease at the bottom of her stomach. She wondered how good the Hokage thought she was, and how that translated to what he wanted from her. She wanted to enter, so badly, and even if she graduated at a different rate than her sister and Naruto, she was on track of moving forward in her rough, decade-long plan to prepare for the events that would follow. She just hoped he wasn't using her more than normal for a Shinobi._

Now, as Yuki faced her bewildered mother, she licked dry lips and looked her straight in the eye. She had learned that dying of cancer after ten years had landed at least one trait to her new life.

She was as stubborn as a mule.

"Yuki," her mother's voice was soft, had that edge of complete exasperation that it often did. A product being the mother of two daughters and Naruto's general obnoxiousness(a son in his own right, at this point).

"Mother," Yuki said, and she purposefully used the highly formal variation of Mother, just to give an indication to her mother how serious she was. Which she was very much, serious that is.

"You can't join the Academy," said her mother, again, lips pursed.

Yuki narrowed her eyes and clenched her tiny fists.

"You can't stop me," was her mulish retort, and she was pleased with the flicker of surprise she received from her mother. The Academy application clearly stated that you didn't need your parent's express permission for it, and Yuki had done a little digging to find that this had been done to increase Academy applications; a tactic that had been successful and increased the application by twenty percent.

 _Ninjas are damn sneaky alright._

"Of course you already read the form," said her mother, and she was pinching the bridge of her nose.

"If Sakura-nee and Naruto-kun are going, then I'm going. The Hokage assured me that I would be able to enter, along with Naruto, despite my age."

Her mother looked at her with eyes filled with concern.

"But your condition-"

An old wound that refused to leave her, even in a new life. Not that her mother knew that, of course. Her body had always held her back, as Alice, that had always been a basis of a lot of anger and resentment. It had limited her so much and now her abilities in this life would do the same. But Yuki would be damned if it would completely stop her.

"Won't stop me," she said firmly and she pointedly lifted her chin, squared her shoulders.

"Yuki... I can't stop you, and I will support you. But please, for the sake of my heart, pace yourself."

Yuki beamed, and bowed deeply, formally to her mother. She did not promise to pace herself, not to the degree that her mother wanted, because there was so much at stake, so much that would happen to all of them, but she did tuck away the thought that her second life wasn't just working to not die young. Rather instead to enjoy it, smell the flowers and all that wonderfulness that had been so sweet as Alice.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Sakura was very easily annoyed by Naruto-kun. Even two years later, she didn't know what had gone through her younger sister's mind to bring him into the house. Or at least, further than saving him from the mob of bad adults chasing him. Those memories were a bit fuzzy, but she still remembered the stark dislike and anger at the ragged and frankly dirty boy that had dragged bad smelling people into her house. However, she had come to love him like the idiot brother he was. He was kind and very funny, and at moments, much more intelligent that most people seemed to believe. But he was unbelievably obnoxious, loud, and so rude that she had learned to simply clock him in the back of the head if she was too annoyed.

She loved him, but that did not mean she liked him all the time.

The fact that he loved her sister made her reluctantly understand that Naruto would not be going away, at all, stubborn that he was. She may be only five years old, but she understood that the way that Naruto looked at Yuki was different than the way he looked at her. He called her Sakura-chan after a few weeks of meeting each other, but Yuki-chan had been that way from the beginning. He was very conscious of her sister, and she wondered at how oblivious her sister was to the whole thing, as he was a little puppy chasing her around.

Frankly, it was one of the reasons Sakura hadn't liked him at first, making Yuki cry, and then taking Yuki's attention away from _her._ But she found over time that Naruto-kun had his advantages, idiotness aside, because he did love Yuki. Sakura thought it to be incredibly romantic, the way they had met, and was assured in her belief that she would be Yuki's maid of honor when she was sixteen and old enough to marry(she would already be married herself at this point, with a prince, of course), and that with Naruto-kun, she would always have an extra hand to protect Yuki.

Yuki-chan sacred Sakura sometimes. It was not fear of her, but rather for her sister. Yuki was scary smart at times, and while part of Sakura resented her for being smarter than her, her sister still needed her protection. She was smaller, younger, and her chakra sensitivity was a hindrance as much as it was an advantage. She was prone to be overwhelmed, and while she sometimes moved ahead of her and Naruto at martial arts, Yuki was physically weaker than the both of them, even if she was much faster to make up for it.

For Sakura, Yuki would always be that, something precious to protect and save, even if she could very well handle herself.

It didn't help that people whispered. Many of her parent's adult friends thought her stupid because she was quiet and sickly because of her sensitivity. That always made Sakura mad, as well as Naruto, but Yuki always shrugged it off. Sakura knew from the infrequent visits to the park that adults couldn't be as mean as children. They called their pink hair strange and her forehead wide, they called Naruto stupid, as well as being deformed because of his whisker marked cheeks, and they teased Yuki mercilessly for coughing so much, for being filled with germs.

Sakura didn't like her forehead, it was _wide_ , but she liked her hair, short as it was. And she liked Yuki's paler shade, and she liked Naruto's whiskers birthmarks, it made his smile special. He was a bit stupid, but not as much as people thought. Besides, only she was allowed to say that damn it. She be damn if either Naruto or Yuki got hurt because of what someone said. She was the oldest- she had to protect them both.

Which is why she had mixed feelings the day of their first Academy day. Naruto was bouncing off the walls, but really, that wasn't odd in itself. Yuki was much more subdued, as usual, smiling, adjusting her white dress. She looked unworried, eyes calm and ready. Sakura frowned and prepared to catch her once she started coughing. Their mother gave them all a kiss on the cheek as the went, even a grumbling Naruto(despite it all, he had a wide grin that could rival the sun).

It almost seemed okay at first. It wasn't until they were halfway there that Yuri started coughing. It started as small, little hacks that Sakura had long grown used too. And they grew slightly deeper, and deeper. Sakura and Naruto alike knew what to do: the more she coughed, the closer they got to her. They never touched her, Sakura noticed that Naruto was especially careful not to do it, knowing that could mess up her focus. But they filled her space with themselves, a secret thing Sakura and Naruto had learned to do to block out the worst of what Yuki called 'strange chakra'. It helped Yuki, who said that she was 'comfortable' with their chakra: She stood a little straighter and tapped their ankles softly with the tip of her sandal in thanks. Sakura gave her a strained smiled, which Naruto mimicked.

The rest of the day more or less went that way. Classes were strained, Yuki was constantly coughing, which annoyed teacher after teacher. Naruto-kun was impatient and snapped at every kid that made a snide comment about Yuki's cough or her pale, sweating face, or Sakura's forehead or his loud voice. Sakura only smiled if they said anything to her, or Naruto or Yuki. She smiled and cracked her knuckles. She may not be as strong or as long lasting as Naruto, or as fast as Yuki, but Sakura had a knack of being able to out punch both of them. Only Yuki's hand on her arm prevented her from lashing out and following through with her threat.

One girl pushed it too far, it was two weeks after they had started the Academy. She was an older girl, about seven and she came from some clan called Uchiha.

She had cornered Yuki on the way to the restroom, and the commotion had caused the entire class to gather outside while the teacher tried to calm them down… Only Sakura just stepped right next to the girl, eyes burning, and punched the arrogant girl across the nose. It broke, and part of Sakura cheered, vicious and victorious as she howled, nose dripping blood. She helped Yuki up, a burning sensation of the sight of her split lip in her chest. Yuki was too nice. She was the quickest out of all of them, but she was always too nice to actually hit someone, she tended to focus on dodging, and disarming her opponents. She had flipped both her and Naruto on many occasion caught their hands behind their backs. Naruto and Sakura just beat the snot out of each other but had to adopt a strategy to stop Yuki, and her fast, easy moving limbs. Yuki had probably been caught off guard, and of course, hadn't thought to fight back. It just wasn't Yuki's nature to be violent or aggressive.

But it _was_ in Sakura's nature.

"No one messes with either my sister or Naruto-kun," she screamed, hands on her hips, "Anyone who does gets knocked on their stupid butts!"

Naruto-kun cracks his knuckles grins so wide that his eyes squint, his face fox-like and sly:

"What Sakura-chan said! Anyone who messes with us is getting pranked!"

"Sha!" agreed Sakura, punching forward in an expert way.

People more or less left them alone after that. And if they didn't, they had Sakura's fists to contend with, and Naruto's often humiliating pranks.

* * *

 **AN: I do not own Naurto, its plot, characters and world belong to its author/artist, its publishing and broadcasting company.**

 **This is me, making misshapen castles in its sandbox.**

 **Edit:21 June 2017**


	6. Academy Arc: Underneath The Underneath

**Academy Arc:**

 **Underneath The Underneath**

 _"Every morning I wake up and put on a mask. T_ _the mask makes everything seem alright, b_ _ut they don't know I cry at night, t_ _he nightmares just won't go away._ _If only I knew it was your last day._ _For six years I've felt this pain._ _The feeling just won't go away, e_ _veryone thinks I've dealt with your death the best,_ _but without this mask I'd be a mess," My Mask, Ellie Nazza 2011_

Kakashi Hatake never expected to care again after he plunged his hand into Rin's chest( _he had no choice, he was so sorry he never meant to hurt her_ ). There was always a faint, lingering amount of what he should've felt- Minato-sensei's son was alive after all, he had friends. He had Gai and Asuma and some people in the Anbu that he would hate to see gone( _little Itachi, his equal in rank and strength, but way too young, cried after every kill- Kakashi did his best to help him hide it, to hold onto his shoulder with a vice grip when he started to shake_ ). But he hadn't wanted to care. Didn't expect it. But of course, the Hokage was determined, as all old man were, to meddle in the lives of others. For better or for worse.

It was why, he supposes, he was sitting in a damn old cherry tree and watching little brats.

Well, watching was a strong word he supposes. He wasn't there for them, not really. He was there to make sure one of them- the boy with Minato-sensei's hair and eyes, with Kushina-chan's round face- wouldn't be attacked again. And it was him that Kakashi cared about the most, to make sure that the legacy of his Sensei would live. Would come grow and fill in the large shoes left behind both of his parents. Minato-sensei's son was so… Small.

 _Sometimes I wonder if I had ever been that size myself._

At six-years-old, he barely would come to his waist, if that. But Naruto was so frighteningly like his mother, just as loud and obnoxious( _He was like a locomotive, harsh and brutal and never ever stopping, if ill practice with his brawler like taijutsu and chakra that was enormous, frightening in a child really. He was a dreamer, a harder worker, very sly and quick. He had the cleverness of his father in odd ways and the daring fire of his mother_ ). The girl with the darker pink hair, Sakura( _She had small chakra reserves, surprisingly strong at taijutsu and excellent chakra control and a genjutsu type or maybe medical. She was a spitfire that was determined. Competitive to an insane degree._ ), was quite taller. A little past his waist _._

 _Their tempers were evenly matched though_ , he thought. Both quick to anger and lash out.

Very unlike the younger one, Yuki, the Hanuro with the lighter pink hair, shorter than Naruto, but that was most likely because she was ten months younger than her older sister( _Her chakra reserves were on the larger side, her control seemed advance but not to the extent of her sister as far as he could see, most technically proficient and quickest at taijutsu and with a chakra sensitivity that was alarming,_ _ **too**_ _aware. But no fire. She was…. Gentle, stupidly hesitant to hurt others. He did not understand her drive to become a Shinobi, how she constantly was moving forward to become what he was. If she had better control, he would've slotted her for being a Medic, too_ ). At that thought, Kakashi munched absently at the small onigiri she had left for him. It was salted perfectly and has his favorite filling. The girl had been a quick study when it came to what he hadn't liked, but then again he had been kinda obvious with leaving the stuff he didn't like at the base of the tree where she had left it for him.

 _Kakashi stared. Through the holes of his Inu, porcelain, standard issue mask, as the little girl approached the base of the tree. Hair, long and shockingly pink, a sort of pastel color, glittered in the pale morning light as her sister, the darker haired girl and Minato-sensei's son all went inside to have their breakfast. She tilted her head, blinking slightly at the sweets she had left at the bottom of the tree. She hummed._

" _So no, Arare*. You don't seem to like rice flavored snacks, like senbai* either, though mochi seems okay," said the young child, no more than four or so, she shooked her head, picked up the treat from the small space between two large roots. It was on a plain napkin, a cute thing with small stitched ume flowers, a gift from her mother, "I'll stick to the anko and matcha flavors, then."_

 _Kakashi frowned._

" _I'm sorry. I thought you would like it," she said, softly, before she hummed and turned away._

" _Yuki-chan hurry up, Mama's making Yakizakana*!" cried out her sister._

 _The little girl, with another nod to in his direction, ran quickly inside, her long hair swirling at her quick movement._

She had left six onigiri at the base of the tree, four were in his stomach and two were in his lap.

"Sakura, Yuki, Naruto, pick it up!" said the Mother, Mebuki( _Genin, most likely by choice, master practitioner of Taijutsu, Intel expert, actual level- unknown, member of the unofficial group, Allied Mothers Force. Pretty large reserves for a woman._ )

The children, long used to the orders of the blonde woman, followed them. They ran faster around the makeshift training grounds. It was early, frightfully early. Yet the children had woken up quickly, Yuki first, not even waiting for her mother before she had used the restroom and had come outside, bowed at him and left the Onigiri(something she only gave to him he had been pleasantly surprised to find out) at the base of the tree after she had put away the food she, her mother and older sister had prepared last night into the three matching bento boxes of different colors(Sakura a blush pink, Naruto a garish orange and Yuki cherry red).

She had woken up the other two with tugged blankets and gentle rolling out of futons. Quick, economic movements as she carefully crawled into the futons and then tugged off blankets. Naruto had protested the most of course, but with a slight, gentle pull of his blond hair, the girl had gotten him to trudge after her to start their morning training sessions. Sakura was a bit quicker to wake, grumbling as she rubbed her behind from hitting the cold floor.

She was the driving force, thought Kakashi. The lynchpin to this small little team of miscreants. Yuki had saved Naruto( _he is grateful, even if he has no right to be because he has never even bothered to speak to the boy even as he watches after him_ ) and had befriended him. Sakura had followed and though this is not what Minato-sensei had wanted for his son, Kakashi can be sure that the fact that Naruto, while not being raised by his Godfather or Godmother, nor being hailed as the hero that had saved them all, he had found himself a family against the cruel fate of being the container of the Kyuubi( _Hate and pain. Two dead loved ones and a memory that still wakes him up in a cold sweat, of the thing that had been inside Kushina-chan and now inside her son_ ).

But at least, he has a small blissful world of ignorance with the Hanuro Clan.

They were of a minor Shinobi Clan, barely that, originally from the Land of Snow( _He remembers fire and a small body clutching at his as they fled a crumbling Palace and regime_ ), merchants that had migrated a few generations ago. It showed in their slightly foreign choice of clothing, emphasized proudly by the mother, dressing her children in the red and white of her husband's clan. They still had strong merchant ties, if he recalled correctly. Made most of their money that way, with extended family scattered across Fire Country. Most of the Clan itself was civilians, with a few scattering of ninjas in the ranks of the relatively small clan. The highest was the Clan head, the two girl's father, Kizashi( _He was an all-rounder, jack of all trades and master of none, but was frightfully competent, easily a Jonin but he never seems to bother with wanting to take the exam._ ) and he was a high ranked Chunin.

Nondescript, removed from the general squabble the more 'esteemed' of the Konoha Shinobi Clans. Away from politics, but still in the loop of the Shinobi- Kakashi thinks there would be worse places for the Hokage to place the legacy of Minato-sensei. He knows that Naurto's Godmother, the Uchiha Matriarch, Uchiha Mikoto, had wanted to take him in at Jiraiya-sama's refusal… But, well, the Uchiha were already in deep enough water. It wasn't said aloud or in general public, but the Uchiha had long been famed for being able to tame the Tailed Beasts with their red, swirling eyes. The fact that the Kyuubi had been released and not only had directly attacked… Well.

There was a reason why there was resentment for the Police force.

"Yuki, stop staring at the tree!"

Kakashi looks towards the girl automatically, taking in light blue eyes that look straight at him, her little pale pink brows furrowed, before they flickered away. She renewed her vigor in her morning katas as her mother drilled them with the efficacy of an Academy instructor.

 _She never misses me._ _She never even hides the fact that she can sense me. A warning? A curiosity? Automatic? She needs to become better at that. She has already attracted the attention of the Hokage._

"Yes, Mama."

And Kakashi watches, careful, senses alert of threats and caring a little more then he has a right too as the three children practice their katas with clumsy limbs and eagerness. It wasn't just with Naruto- but with all of them. They were an echo. Naruto was Obito, loud and eager, optimistically foolish. Sakura was him in a way- determined and competitive with a strive of acceptance of a being a Shinobi. And Yuki was Rin, sweet Rin that was kinda and too gentle for the life they had chosen. He wished, faintly, that she would fail. She wasn't for this life.

But as she came around Naruto, her pale pink hair flying as she took him down with a careful tap to the back of his neck, he knew she would go far.

"Good Yuki-chan!" cried her mother with a small smile, "But you have to stop hesitating!"

The girl nodded simply, carefully checking that Naruto wasn't hurt, dragging him away from the sparring area that their mother had made in their backyard. She checked his pulse, how his neck was fairing, before nodding to herself. She went against her sister next while their mother revived Naruto, her her fingertips glowing green( _she knew nothing beyond the basics_ ).

"Bring it, Imoto-chan!"

The girl readied her stance, smoothly entering her kata form. Naruto cheered from the sideline as Mebuki kept a close eye, arm on her hip.

And Kakashi watched on, alert and ready for whatever would come hurt the child of his sensei, as well as the two pink haired little girls, finding that he care all too much.

 **0000000000000**

The Academy was both what Yuki expected and nothing like she expected. If she was honest, she expected a bit more along the lines of dangers lurking around every corner. She was ready for it, tense and scared for what was to come, but ready. This was where it happened, after all, where children lined up for the slaughter. Taught to kill, to maim and to sneak and spy. When it had been a manga, it had seemed cool in a way, the way kids were treated as adults since the age of twelve, but that had been a fantasy, a story on an ink filled page. It was not startling when they killed. It was not startling when they _were_ killed, upsetting when it was a character she liked, but not startling. It was the world after all. And it was only fiction.

It was not that way now and Yuki was lining herself to follow that path for the sake of her survival, as well as those she loved.

Conditioned to believe in the village to the point of zealousness, no hesitation of giving their bodies and lives for it. It was strange, in a way, she was like them, but she also had the memories of a teenager, from a society that protected children beyond anything else. 'Children are the future' in this place they were the future forebears of the Village's income and while children were cherished, they were more as a commodity that was used to fill the ranks. She entered the building because she knew if she didn't she would have anyway chance of living past the age of fourteen, eleven, in Orochimaru's invasion if she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and because she swore that her family in this life would not be lost to her either.

Of course, she forgot with the whole fuss of the upcoming Fourth Shinobi War, that this was technically Peace Time in Konoha. There wasn't much to the whole thing other than the blatant fact that the Academy was a child soldier camp. It was gentle. It was sly. It was as a Shinobi would do it- kinda like that old parable of the Boiling Frog. Place a frog in hot water and it would jump out- but place it in cold water and slowly, heat it and the frog would stay within the water. As Alice, she would have been horrified.

As Yuki, she had no real choice and barreled through it, trying to keep up with Naruto and Sakura-nee as they fell victim to it.

They loved it. They wanted to become 'Shinobi' they were eager to be able to 'save princesses' to do 'super cool justu'. But Yuki could _see_ \- She saw how they were slowly desensitized towards murder, towards hurting other human beings and doing things that most humans weren't keen on doing...

They started to with animals, small hunting trips that were 'survival training' that would occur every two weeks or so. It started with small ones, rabbits, and birds, and Yuki watched as they were escalated until her fellow classmates were hunting down large game(old ones, lame ones with hurt legs or wilting fur) with badly thrown kunai and in groups. That was encouraged, the mob mentality to hurt and maim. Yuki always encourages Naruto and Sakura to aim for the head, the throat, to end the poor deer or elk's life quickly. They were also taught how to skin and clean the animal, to cook quickly with level E jutsu in a pinch.

" _Yuki-chan, are you okay?" said Iruka-sensei, gently, settling on his haunches next to her, "You, Sakura and Naruto didn't join in the big hunt today."_

 _Yuki frowned, looking over her shoulder at the rest of their class, sitting around a large and very old, dead deer. They were chattering and happy as Mizuki(she kept a careful eye on him, waiting for him to strike, to attack Naruto or undermine him in any way) skinned it. She lifted her rabbit, kunai through it's head. She removed it, carefully wiping the blade with a cloth she kept in her small hip pouch next to her kunai and shuriken one, as well as removing the long, thin wire she had used to grab at its ankle, before she had pounced on the quick creature and stabbed it clean through the brain. She wrapped the wire carefully around a spool, before placing it into her kunai pouch._

" _Yes, Iruka-sensei, we're fine. We just decided to hunt separately. It wasn't against the rules," she said, pointedly and he nodded._

" _That was very clever to use your wire," he praised._

 _She hummed, carefully taking out her specially sharpened kunai. Naruto dropped next to them, beaming at the variety of eggs he had stolen from a bird's nest as Sakura-nee jumped down next, a small collection of wild greens, herbs, and berries in hand. Iruka blinked._

" _You know you were supposed to hunt, Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun," he said sternly._

 _Sakura shook her head and took out a small book that Yuki had given her for her birthday._

" _According to this survival book, it's best to look for a variety to our meal in a survival exercise. In a genin three team, you divide and conqueror," she said smartly, "Besides, Iruka-sensei, I don't feel like deer today."_

 _With a small, but bemused smile, he asked, politely, if he could join their meal. Naruto, already a big fan of their semi-new teacher, nodded enthusiastically with a large smile that was echoed by the one on the older teen's face._

Then of course, once they were a few months into it, they were pitted against each other in a free for all spar. It was more or less a mess of limbs and struggling five and then six-year-olds. But like the deer hunts, it was made to play on their instincts to group together and defend themselves. Yuki made sure to keep close to Naruto and Sakura-nee during these free-falls, which were lessened as they went in favor of more concrete, Tournament style match-ups that happened every two months. It was in one of these matchups that Yuki first met the other member of Team Seven, Uchiha Sasuke.

 _He was taller than Naruto but not Sakura-nee, with soft, rounded features that looked as all Uchiha did. Pretty, slightly effeminate but that was typical for small children of six, with dark eyes and features to what Alice would have called Asian. Most startling of all, he was smiling, happily, arrogant as most of the Uchiha clan were and eager to fight(part of her expected that scowly twelve-year-old)._

 _Yuki took a calculated risk as she slid into the Academy,_ _Chīsana hi or_ _'little fire' style(a solid, defense and stance heavy form of martial arts), instead of her favored style that her mother had taught her, which was Makitsukeru or 'Wind-Coil around' style(fluid, quick, focused on dodging, coming around an opponent and disarming). He was part of the Uchiha, second son, watched carefully because of it, as they were still waiting for him to become the prodigy that his brother was- she couldn't beat him without getting noticed more than she already was._

 _This was before the massacre, she knew, it happened when he was seven or so, (she wanted to stop it, oh, she wanted to stop it but she was five years old and had no idea how) and he was still… Normal. Not the twisted insane, revenge-bent man that would eventually marry her sister(over her dead body)._

 _He hardly bowed, just inclined his head with a happy smirk. Disrespectful, but typical. Yuki had already had a run-in with his clan, a girl had punched her in the face for coughing too loudly in the bathroom when she had been startled by a teacher jumping in through the window, her chakra flaring and panicked as she was late for her first class. Sakura-nee had sorted her out much more violently then Yuki would have liked, but well, at least people left them alone…_

" _Too easy!" called the boy, happily lining up in his own, Clan style, (she had kept an eye on it, from others, it focused on overwhelming the opponent, quick and fast.), "Why couldn't I've gotten a better opponent? I almost feel bad about it!"_

 _Yuki nearly snorted as the girls around the sparring arena cheered for 'Sasuke-kun'. On the one hand, she felt as if she should be annoyed- She was a five-year-old girl after all and she could probably wipe the floor with the boy- but she had been too careful to slip up now to let her temper get the better of her. After all, it didn't matter if she didn't get recognition, it didn't matter in the least to her. She had no chance of being on the same team as Sakura-nee and Naruto, so all she could do was try to graduate in a place of not grabbing the attention of many. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could snag an apprenticeship, like Kakashi had. She pursed her lips and readied herself as the boy smirked at her._

" _You gonna stay up right, Byōki-chan?" he mocked, typical really, using the nickname that most of the Academy had adopted. Not very clever, she thought, as it just meant 'Sickly'._

 _She sighed and waited for the boy to attack, which he did a second later, with a loud war cry that made Yuki roll her eyes. He had three openings at his wild punch towards her, one on his legs which were spread way too far apart, in his stomach, as well as his opposite shoulder. She made a show of it; she allowed him to gain the upper hand for a second as he punched and kicked at her repeatedly. Before she surprised him, by doing a downward lunge, her legs sweeping his out from under him. Carefully not to be too overwhelming, but making the older boy falter, stumble back and struggle to recover._

 _He did so with surprising grace, brows furrowing, frowning as he upped his game. His movements became closer, cleaner, his status as an Uchiha of the Head family showing clearly as he started to take her seriously. Punch, punch on his part, she dodged easily, eyes narrowed as she focused on making sure it looked like he was missing by only luck or by her being slightly quicker(she was faster than him by much more then she was showing). She let him win a few minutes after assessing him, stumbling back as she allowed him to kick her in the sternum, a kick that sent her out of the ring and onto her back. She wheezed as the kick had knocked the wind out of her and allowed herself to sit up as Sakura and Naruto converged on her._

" _Winner, Uchiha Saskue!" cried Mizuki, smiling slightly as he lifted the boy's arm up. He was their taijutsu instructor, a factor that made Yuki keep a clear eye on how Naruto's own form was affected. She made damn sure to make Naruto ignore his lackluster instructions and remember her mother's instead._

 _The older boy stared at her, chest heaving. His eyes were narrowed, dark and displeased even as his fan-girls cheered._

" _Mah, Yuki-chan," whispered Naruto, frowning, "You could've won against the Teme."_

 _Sakura-nee nodded in agreement, pink brows furrowed. Yuki took their hands when they offered them and was lifted up onto her sandaled feet. She huddled them close together, using her sensitivity as an excuse. She made sure to cough to make them get close as they dared to her to her. With the chatter of the children around them, she was more or less safe._

" _Yeah," Yuki agreed, smiling, "But there are more things to just winning. When we get home, I want a clear report on who you fought, as well as the rest of the people, okay?"_

 _Sakura-nee's bright greens eyes brightened._

" _Like a bingo book!" she cried excitedly._

" _Like reporting a mission!" chimed in Naruto, grinning as well. Yuki often gave them tasks like this or made them have some sort inclination of regrouping information back to her. Three children being nosey was much less damning than just one, after all._

 _Yuki smiled and nodded._

It showed how much Naruto flourished with his friendship and access to well, a support system before his academy days. He was not top of their class- in fact, the idiot ditched so many 'stupid' classes that he was dead last, following the trend of the manga, but it wasn't because of his ignorance or his lack of skill (Yuki made damn sure of that). Her Naruto was simply a troublemaker and a bit more on the tactical side at heart, a good trouble maker, sneaky and sly and startling smart on his feet. His pranks, with a little nudging from Yuki's part, edge more on the aspect of espionage and trapping. It was beautiful to watch grown ass Shinobi fall into them and it was something that Naruto prided himself in.

He was a powerhouse to be sure(he was still the heaviest hitter between the three of them, perhaps a little less skilled, but with a stamina and strength to make up for it) when he tried, but it wasn't very often. Naruto didn't have much to prove at the Academy, he did want to become Hokage- that dreamed had not changed and Yuki and Sakura-nee were hard pressed to make sure it never did- rather he was more focused on well, being smarter, honing his skills and helping out as many people as he could.

In the years that she had known him, Naruto had never lost his startling optimistic outlook in life, even with all the darkness that had surrounded his first three years, he had only focused on, well, using that optimism on improving the world. With his fists, if he had too. Yuki was immensely proud that she had befriended him, mostly by happenstance, but proud nonetheless.

Sakura-nee was very similar to Naruto in the aspect that having something to push her to try from her early life had changed her very quickly from the vapid, wild fangirl of canon Naruto. She was top of their respected ring in the Academy(each year, save for the last, small class of the Academy was divided into three respected 'rings' beginners, intermediate and elite, Sakura-nee, Naruto and Yuki both were in the intermediate class at six and five respectfully, but all expected to move forward soon), never missed a class, a brutal and efficient taijutsu and from Yuki's small manipulation of leaving out stories of Tsunade and basic healing texts, deeply immersed in the beginning of medical aspect of their deadly choice of lifestyle. In other words, Sakura-nee was top ranked, unheard of in their relatively unimportant clan that was Haruno and hailed as someone not to cross.

Yuki herself knew that treading a fine line between outing herself as a 'genius' and a moron, her only strategy not to get snapped up the likes of the 'Prodigy's Curse' as she so affectionately called it, or even worse, catching the attention of the likes of Danzo. So she played it careful, for one, she did not try to match her beloved sister's excellence when it came to her public recognition of her skill. She did skip classes, mostly the ones she could afford to, like Math and History, since she had learned pretty damn quickly that most of it was propaganda and utter tripe from her own research and own vague memories of the manga. She was the non-important, unassuming girl that tagged along with the class genius and class moron.

She was edging out about midway through the class because of it, neither excellent nor piss poor performance and she was sure she was a fine balance between Naruto and Sakura- Book-smart but no slouch in the physical aspect of their training. She leaned a bit heavier on the book-smart, as knowledge was power in this Universe like no other, but out of the three of them she had the best technical grasp of the physical aspect and made a point to try and learn more and more fighting styles the older she got. She was a jack of all trades but master of none according to her records, with no one too wise about where she really was in terms of skill, with the small exceptions of her Mother and Father, possibly Kakashi(if so the Hokage), Sakura-nee and Naruto in the know.

It was the beginning, she still had six more years until the start of what occurred in Naruto the manga, but she had made a damn good start in her five(nearly six) years of life. Overall, she had made good headway in her Master plan of ' _Do Not Die & Keep the Good things Good and the Bad Things Less So_'(working title, she had more or less a decade to find a good one after all). It was all just about surviving, after all.

And if anything, Yuki, even as Alice, was pretty damn good at that.

* * *

 **AN: I do not own Naurto. It belongs to its artist, publishing and broadcasting house.**

 **This is me, making misshapen sandcastles in its sandbox.**

 **By the by, I went back and edited the last five chapters, changing the wording, some grammar, adding dialogue and descriptions. It doesn't affect the plot or anything but the changes are there.**

 **End of Arc one, occurred last chapter, this is the start of the 'Academy Arc' which will be significantly longer than the previous arc. About... Um, I think eighteen chapters, followed by the Coming Up Genin Arc, then Land of Waves Arc. I have more or less planned until the Coming up Genin Arc and will plan more as I go along, maybe cutting off things here and there depending on how I feel the story or chapter is going in terms of flow. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please drop a review.**

 ***1 Arare:** **a type of bite-sized Japanese cracker made from glutinous rice and flavored with soy sauce.**

 ***2 Senbai: another Japanese rice cracker, usually cooked by being baked or grilled, traditionally over charcoal. While being prepared they may be brushed with a flavoring sauce, often one made of soy sauce and mirin. Sometimes served with nori(seaweed).**

 ***3 Yakizakana: grilled fish, typical to Japanese breakfast.**

 **~Happy Reading,**

 **Moon Witch '96**


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